


An Ode To Hope

by Kelkat9



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Episode: s06e04 The Doctor's Wife, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Fic, Pete's World Torchwood, Post-Episode AU: s02e13 Doomsday, Pregnancy, References to Depression, Romance, Telepathy, Torchwood References, Universe Alteration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-15
Updated: 2017-11-03
Packaged: 2018-12-02 08:21:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 67,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11505432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kelkat9/pseuds/Kelkat9
Summary: Rose lost the Doctor at Canary Wharf.  Due to a cruel universe he was swept away to Pete's World while she endures in her home universe.  But even in her darkest hour, hope blooms in the form of friends who come to her aid and offer strength and encouragement.  And Rose needs all she can get when she learns the Doctor left a gift behind neither of them expected.  Pregnant and desperate, Rose finds a way to send a message to him.  Suffering from loss of Rose and his TARDIS and on the cusp of madness, the Doctor has his own group of friends determined to see he and Rose reunited.  And if one equally pregnant Jackie Tyler has her way, the universes can sod off so family can be reunited.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is trope of switched magna clamps so Rose is in this universe and the Doctor in the other. Although Rose was affected by Bad Wolf, she cannot fly the TARDIS and cannot telepathically have a convo with the TARDIS so she's basically pretty screwed. Jack can fly the TARDIS but he has obligations on Earth and refuses to let Rose run away. Rose is up the duff (Part 2) and recovering from her loss and has to learn everything from scratch. 
> 
> The Doctor is half mad in Pete's World from his loss so it has some Dark TLV Doctor in it. Warning: they will have to stop him from going mad. (Part 3)
> 
> So not a typical fic for this trope. This is not a season rewrite although reference is made to Rose and Jack helping Donna and the ep on Royal Hope Hospital is referenced in a way that Rose. Jack and Donna end up there. I'm still deciding the reunion aspect.

Roaring wind and bitter cold grasped at Rose as the open maw of the Void howled to consume anything immersed in its essence. And then nothing. Rose’s knees thudded against the floor and her hands slapped the cold dull service. A coughing gasp echoed in the silence as she struggled for breath. Wheezing air in she squinted against the brightness.

Her mind still fuzzy, she couldn’t think, only flashes of memory assaulted her pounding temples. Daleks…Cybermen…her Mum…Mickey…Pete and No. Tears burned her eyes. One heaving breath and she finally looked back where hell once opened. Through tangled locks of blonde hair, she struggled to focus on blinding white.

Where once there was a hungry nothingness, now stood a white wall so white and empty it hurt to look at. The Doctor. Pain cut across her chest and she slid to the floor. He’d made them switch places at the last minute. With a cheeky wink, he’d given her a peck on the forehead for luck.

His lever slipped. She fisted her hands until her nails bit into her palms. A Dalek eye stalk had grazed it throwing it out of alignment. Daleks, it was always them that fucked up _their lives. Their lives._ Oh God, the thought reverberated and she tucked herself into a ball. There was no more their lives. There was only him and her now.

Pete Tyler. A blurred image of him burned into her mind. The doctor slipped and Pete caught him and vanished. But not before she screamed for the Doctor, saw the look of terror and pained regret in his eyes. Gone. He was gone.

Nothing remained but an empty white room smelling of burned metal, plastic and a sickening scent of decaying flesh wafting up from where Cybermen murdered the very people who let them enter this world. And now Rose was empty too. No sympathy for the lost, wounded or dead. She couldn’t feel anything but an aching vacancy carved out of her mind once filled by the vast, manic energy and consuming intelligence of the Doctor.

Limbs leaden and shaking, Rose stood and faced the stark emptiness of the wall. Internally, she refused to accept separation and loss. She was the Bad Wolf, stood against Daleks, turned them to dust and merged with the heart of time. She and the TARDIS wouldn’t have allowed this to come to pass. She limped to the wall, one of her knees refusing to function. She leaned against the surface.

“Doctor.” Her voice rasped his name as if the very act would serve to reverberate through time, the Void and anyone who dared to interfere in their life. The wall vibrated ever so subtly against her palms. The Doctor would probably talk about universal walls syncing and atoms realigning to form a surface where once there was nothing.

“Doctor, can you hear me?” She squeezed her eyes and rested her forehead against the wall, mentally seeking out the strong presence of a Time Lord whose mind encompassed more than knowledge. A whisper, a tenuous thread snapped leaving her with an echo of his sorrow. Tears poured down her face followed by wracking sobs as she slid down the wall.

Time had no meaning. The ache in her chest and head consumed her until she could do nothing but scream her rage. Even as she heard a memory in the back of her mind reminding her the universe was cruel, she screamed until she was hoarse. The building shook and smoke poured into the room.

One constant remained, a sinuous and now mournful song, a ribbon of familiarity sang out to her. The TARDIS. She couldn’t leave the old girl alone and needed to get her away from this place of death and loss. Gritting her teeth, Rose pushed up, muscles screaming and exhaustion weighing her down. Onward she limped not even pausing to look back at the place that stole her heart. By some miracle, the lift worked. She leaned heavily against the control panel, black spots flashing before her eyes and nausea knotting her stomach.

When the doors opened, she vomited the contents of her stomach and stumbled out, falling forward onto her palms. Her vision blurred. She crawled forward hearing shouting voices echoing from another room. Determination to get home drove her onward. She would not let them take the TARDIS. Sheer will pushed her forward, stumbling and sometimes crawling until she found the magnificent blue box. Hope burned in her as she unlocked the door. He was the Doctor, and capable of the impossible. Maybe…

The door clicked shut. No Time Lord greeted her. No slap of converses on grating sounded. No brown pin striped ball of energy scooped her up and promised her it was all a terrible nightmare.

She plodded toward the green and gold light of the console. The time rotor pulsed once as if acknowledging the loss and loneliness. Rose laid a hand on the coral edge of the console.

“I’m sorry. He’s not--” Her voice hitched. She couldn’t say it….wouldn’t say those words. No. He would be back even if she had to rip time and space apart. “Let’s get you out of here.” She patted the coral and the hum of the TARDIS changed. Rose released a shaky breath. At least she still had the TARDIS and for now, she’d cling to her presence. It wasn’t like it was the first time the time ship had been her support.

Rose hit a few switches, turned knobs and punched keys for the automatic return taking her back to their last location, the Powell Estate. As the time rotor pulsed and the ship shook, Rose slipped onto the grating. She stared up at the endless coral strut studded ceiling, golden light soft and comforting until blackness claimed her.

#

“Easy does it, Sweetheart.” The voice was strange and yet familiar to Rose’s muddled mind. She fled from it burrowing back into the darkness, wrapping it around her like a warm blanket.

“I could call a friend at UNIT.” Another voice, a woman whose soft tone tugged her back to consciousness.

“I’d rather not. Too many questions and she’s been through enough.”

“We don’t know what she’s been exposed to. It’s been two days and who knows how long before that.”

Rose’s eyes fluttered open. Blurry light assaulted her and she squeezed her eyes shut again. Her stomach rebelled and she tried to turn over but a hand held her steady.

“Come on sleeping beauty, time to wake up. I’m starting to get a little worried I’m losing my charm.” She knew that voice. When she opened one eye, she met a blue gazed she thought she’d never see again.

“Jack?” Her voice sounded strained and weak. What was wrong with her? She lifted her head and groaned at a pounding headache.

“There she is,” Jack said in a soothing tone. He helped her sit, propped up by pillows as she winced at every aching muscle in her body.

“Where’s the Doctor?” If she was hurt, he would be there. She fought through the jumbled thoughts before her memory cleared.

“No!” She tried to get up, fighting against Jack holding her steady.

“Rose, you need to take it easy.” His voice firmed.

“As much as I detest saying this, I agree with Captain Harkness.” Rose’s eyes widened.

“Sarah Jane?” She focused on her location: the infirmary in the TARDIS. She’d made it back after… Tears wet her eyes. 

“I lost him. Oh God I lost him.” She burrowed into Jack’s arms and wept in earnest, clawing into his blue shirt until she could catch her breath. He remained steady, rubbing circles on her back.

“It’s okay honey, we’re here and we aren’t going anywhere. You’re not alone.”

“He’s gone. So is my mum.” The words sounded empty as she lay back down.

“I know. I’ve seen the surveillance video. I saw what happened to the Doctor.”

“Captain Harkness shared the video with me,” Sarah Jane acknowledged. “As we understand it, they are in a parallel universe.”

“Yeah,” Rose said softly unable to do more than stare blankly and focus on breathing. 

“That means he’s still alive,” Jack emphasized. “And if I know one thing about the Doctor, if he’s still breathing, that big old Time Lord brain is figuring out how to get back here.”

Rose nodded trying to cling to Jack’s hope. The Doctor always said hope was a good thing.  
Working her way through misery, her mind began processing where she was and who was there and wondering what had happened since she passed out.

“How’d you find me?”

“That’s easy,” Jack said with a cocky swagger she always loved about him. “Been watching the Powell Estate trying to catch up with you two in the right timeline. When the TARDIS disappeared from Canary Wharf with only you on board, I figured this is where you’d come. 

“When I couldn’t get a hold of your mother,” Sarah Jane confessed, tugging at her tweed coat. “I came over to check on her and found Captain Harkness and the TARDIS.”

“You’ve been talking to my Mum.” As odd as it felt, a soft smile emerged. Of course Sarah Jane would. Rose had told her mum about when she met Sarah Jane and… She swallowed a lump in her throat. Her mum was gone. Rose closed her eyes trying not cry.

“Don’t hold it in,” Sarah Jane commanded. “It won’t’ help you. And you cry as many tears as you need.”

“Sarah Jane is right,” Jack agreed. “You and the Doctor saved the Earth. We owe you.”

Rose vehemently shook her head. “No, the Doctor never wanted any thanks.” Her voice shook as she choked on tears that spilled whether or not she wanted them.

“He’d want us to move on and learn and help make things better.”

“Yes he would,” Sarah Jane acknowledged. “And he’d want us to help you.”

Rose didn’t know how to respond. What would help her? Bringing back the Doctor but they weren’t likely to be able to do that. But maybe together they could…

She couldn’t focus on the loss. Her mind shut out that thought and the pain. It was easier to prioritize the here and now. She moved her legs and groaned.

“You smashed your knee pretty good, tore a few muscles, shattered an elbow, popped an ear drum and were generally covered in contusions. Thanks to the TARDIS I’ve got you pretty much fixed up but it’s going to hurt for a while.”

“I heal pretty fast,” she confessed not wanting to elaborate on exactly how much healthier she was than most humans. Time enough for that later.

She swung her legs around with Jack’s help.

“You need to eat, hydrate and rest,” Sarah Jane ordered. “And in that order. I’ll see if I can’t find something in the galley for you and if not, we can send Captain Harkness out.”

“For chips,” he teased. Rose felt all the blood drain from her face. She wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to eat chips again. At least not without memories destroying her appetite.

“Let’s start with the galley,” Jack suggested, gently squeezing Rose’s shoulders.

“Thanks, Jack. I don’t know how you’re here but thank you.” He helped her over to a chair so she could sit upright. She looked down at a blue hospital gown and eyed him. He winked.

“How I got here is a very long and complicated story.”

“Tell me.” She squeezed his hands. “All I know is the Doctor said you were rebuilding Earth in the future and had some sort of fixed destiny. He really didn’t elaborate and kept changing the subject when I asked. I was afraid he didn’t want to tell me you died and it was fixed.”

Jack snorted and summarized the whole horrible truth. Shot by a Dalek, Dead; not Dead; Vortex Manipulator bouncing into nineteenth Earth; dying, waking up; Torchwood; pain; suffering; and always wondering why he couldn’t die. It ended with the TARDIS refusing him entry until Sarah Jane arrived and somehow persuaded the ship to let him in. 

Rose listened and tried not to feel. She didn’t want pain, sorrow or compassion but these were things that she couldn’t reject. 

Jack was a friend and needed her. He had always tried to make light or hide how bad things were but he couldn’t from Rose. Jack was a con man, a master of the art of using words to obscure the man beneath. Traveling with the Doctor and Rose, he slipped and Rose saw through the cracks. So had the Doctor which is why a bitter resentment settled across her chest at his abandonment. It was swiftly followed by a need to hold Jack.

Although weak and sore, she stood and wrapped her arms around him, the warmth and comfort of a warm body, a friend, was all she needed. Nothing could erase his pain but Rose could do her damnedest to make sure Jack knew he was loved and wanted. She also needed to talk to him about the Game Station and her part in the whole mess but not now. 

“I’m so sorry, Jack, and I know those are just words and can’t erase the terrible things but I promise you, I’m not leaving you. You and me are part of this whole mad time traveling club. We need to stick it out no matter how bad the Doctor fucks up.”

Jack pulled back, cupped her cheek and brushed his lips against hers in a chaste kiss. Sarah Jane cleared her throat.

Rose didn’t manage to eat much, some soup, bread and several glasses of mineral water.

“Thanks, Sarah Jane. I ” She swallowed hard. “I don’t know what to say.”

Sarah Jane sat next to her while Jack went back to the console room to keep an eye on activities outside and across Earth. UNIT was sure to be looking for the TARDIS.

“You don’t have to say anything. I know what it’s like to…lose someone special.” She grasped Rose’s hand and squeezed. “Right now, you need to heal and then you can think about the future.”

Thinking about the future was the last thing Rose wanted. She glanced around the med bay, empty, blinking lights, machines humming and…cold. She yawned and felt weighted down.

“Can’t believe I want to sleep. Feels like I slept ages, two days by Jack’s estimate.”

“Your body needs it. Let’s get you settled.”

Sarah Jane led Rose to her quarters, still strewn with clothing and miscellaneous items in piles, covering every surface. She hated it. Everything reminded her of something she and The Doctor did or something he said. But his scent remained ingrained in the linens from the last time he’d curled up with her talking about the Medusa Cascade and the Atraxian Nebula he wanted to show her. She fought sleep but in the end, it wasn’t up to what she wanted and she sank into a dreamless sleep.

The smell of tea and toast awakened her.

“Wakey wakey, sunshine. Time to eat and hydrate so you can build up your strength so I can take you out for a real meal. Rose grimaced but managed to sit up. 

“Thanks.” The tea wasn’t as strong as she made but it perked her up almost more than the toast. _Free radicals and tannins opening up the synapses._ She tightened her grip on the mug hearing his voice in her head. Would everything remind her of the Doctor? 

“Jack, Torchwood?”

“It’s sorted.” His smile slipped and he sat on the bed next to her. “UNIT swept in and took control. They never liked Yvonne.”

“They knew about Torchwood and didn’t warn the Doctor?” She clenched her jaw needing someone to blame, tired of crying and wanting to lash out.

“They knew and did their best to protect both of you. The Doctor is not that easy to get a hold of. Trust me, I tried. And you two did a rather good job pissing off Queen Vickie. She was thorough in planning out Torchwood and her revenge.”

Rose choked on the toast. How could she forget? This was their fault. She and her bet; and the Doctor in his arrogant jaunt through history with no regard for who he upset. 

“Drink your tea,” Jack commanded. “Canary Wharf won’t be an issue again. Neither will Torchwood. I’m in charge of what’s left now.”

“After what they did you? To me and the Doctor and the whole world?” Rose sputtered.

“Better me. I know the nasty stuff they were hiding and can keep tabs on things. Even UNIT if I have to. I won’t let anything like that happen again. This planet is my home now.”

Rose clutched the tea to her chest. Jack had changed, aged in a way not perceptible to most humans. Pain changed him, wizened him and made him cautious. As much as it cut through her, Rose understood and respected the man he’d become.

“Rose, we need to talk about what you’re going to do.”

Rose hid behind the mug of tea, sipping down the warmth hiding from icy reality. 

“Your mother will be listed as one of the victims of Canary Wharf. You can stay at the Powell Estate if you want.”

“No.” The word slipped out with a firmness that surprised her. “It’s not home anymore and can’t be. Not without my mum.”

He nodded. “I understand. It would be good to get it sorted now before a bunch of nosy neighbors come around. The last thing you want is to answer questions. We can store your stuff in the TARDIS. It’s not like she’s going anywhere.” 

“We could--” Her voice caught imagining she and Jack traveling through space and time and yet knowing internally she couldn’t replace the Doctor with Jack. It wasn’t fair to any of them and from the look on his face, he meant what he said, Earth was home now.

“I know you want to run. It’s not like I don’t have a history of that myself but…you can’t run from this. You have to face it head on.” He paused, training his gaze on her. “Come back to Cardiff with me. We can leave the TARDIS on the rift. You’ll both be safe there. I’ll make sure.”

“I don’t know.” Rose set the mug down on her side table. Where did she go? The TARDIS was the only home she had or wanted. She didn’t want to leave her. Cardiff had memories, some good and some bad. It wasn’t home. But London had more memories.

“Sarah Jane offered up a place with her and a garden for the TARDIS. Although,” Jack drawled. “I think she’s a little nervous about her not quite human teenage son around a time ship. I think she’s afraid there might be a few unexpected adventures.” He grinned and tugged a piece of her hair teasingly. Rose couldn’t help but smile. 

“I don’t want to impose,” she said staring at her lap and picking nervously at her cuticles.

“Nonsense!” Sarah Jane walked in with a bag of bacon sarnies. Rose’s stomach growled at the scent. “Here now, let’s try something more substantial.” Rose dove into them, groaning with delight.

“Thanks Sarah Jane and thank you for the invite. I just…I’m not ready to make a decision yet.”

“One step at a time.” Sarah Jane tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “Jack talked to you about the flat?”

Rose nodded and licked her fingers already feeling stronger and more alert. The underlying pain still throbbed in her temples but she could focus better. 

“I think I’d like to get that done now. It’s going to be hard and I don’t want to drag it out. Better to rip off the bandage, yeah?”

“Yes, I think so.” Sarah Jane patted Rose’s shoulder. “Why don’t Captain Harkness and I get things ready. I’m sure the TARDIS has a nice hot shower ready for you. Take your time. We’ll be here.”

“Unless you need some help?” Jack winked as Sarah Jane tutted and shoved him out the door. A slight giggle bubbled up. But guilt slammed it down. No, she shouldn’t be smiling or enjoying anything. Her Doctor was locked away in another universe…without his TARDIS. She rose out of bed covering her face. How could she not think of that? He was torn from his TARDIS! The last link to his people. The lights flickered and the door to her ensuite opened a crack.

Tears already bursting forth, Rose stiffly walked over to where a shower was indeed steaming up the room. She pulled the hospital gown off and stepped into what had always been a sanctuary for her. Hot water pounded on her shoulders as again, she sobbed this time more for the Doctor than herself. Her body shook and she slapped her palms on the peacock colored tiles. How could the multi verse be so cruel? 

She let the water wash away her grief. Sarah Jane was right. She needed to grieve and cry and be allowed to hurt and be sad. She equally needed to allow herself to love and remember. 

The Doctor would want her to live. Emergency Program One. He wanted her to live her life. If she loved him, that’s what she needed to do. And if living her life included figuring out a way to cross into a parallel universe while taking care of his beloved TARDIS…well she could do that too.

She poured shampoo into her hand scrubbed at her hair. She was Rose Tyler, a defender of the Earth and universe. She’d faced down Daleks and countless others and she’d be damned if she let the universe squeeze the life out of her until she was nothing but a whimpering puddle of tears. She needed to be strong for herself, the Doctor and Earth. Without him here, Earth needed every defender.

She finished washing up until no trace of Canary Wharf was left and stepped out of the shower still sore and with twinges that ran much deeper than any bruise. But as Sarah Jane once said: Pain and loss defined them as much as happiness and love.

She dressed but not in a way she once did. Somehow, she felt older and less frivolous. Rose donned jeans, a purple t-shirt and found a new blue leather jacket on her bed. A smile cracked through her melancholy along with new determination to be strong. She looked up at the ceiling.

“Thanks. It’s perfect.” She put on the jacket, the same shade as her beloved blue box. It fit as if it was made for her. She marched out into the console room, hair tied back in a ponytail.

“I’m ready.”

She wasn’t. But Jack and Sarah Jane helped her through it, helped her to let go, say good bye and grieve what was lost. It took two days to clean out the flat of anything she wanted. She called Cousin Mo who bawled nonstop over the phone. Rose explained she needed time away and to tell the family and friends to take what they wanted and donate the rest.

Once everything was boxed and packed in the TARDIS, it was time for her next step.

“I’m going with Jack to Cardiff.”

“I understand.” Sarah Jane hugged her. “You’re welcome any time. Anything you need and I expect phone calls. Don’t be the Doctor and disappear.”

Rose squeezed her arms around Sarah Jane. “I promise. I just need some time away and UNIT’s had people driving by.” She pulled back and looked Sarah Jane in the eyes. “It’s not safe.”

“I’ll handle UNIT.” Rose smiled at the stern quality of Sarah Jane’s voice and had no doubt the older woman would set that entire organization on its ear.

“I know you will but it’s just easier if we’re not in London. Besides, the rift’s good for the TARDIS. I’m sure she could use a snack.” Rose patted the side of the ship and a slight euphoric trill travelled up her spine.

“Like I said, keep in touch and don’t let Captain Harkness drag you into any of his--”

“Any of my what?” Jack asked strolling up to them.

“Any Torchwood business. Rose doesn’t need that.” Warmth and a feeling of friendship and belonging flushed through Rose. She didn’t have her mum but she had Sarah Jane who she suspected would be even more protective.

“I’ll be fine.” Rose assured. “Promise, no guns or pissing off aliens. Well unless they’re invading us and then all bets are off.” Sarah Jane sighed, hugged Rose again before leaving. 

“You need to let me in. She’s still sore at me.” Jack inclined his head toward the TARDIS.

“I don’t understand why,” Rose commented her brow furrowing in worry. “She’s never been that way about anyone and she always loved having you on board.” Rose opened the door and walked Jack in. The TARDIS shook ever so slightly. She’d done much worse the day before. Rose’s head often throbbed along with the TARDIS’ distress but today seemed better. Whatever the problem was, it appeared to be easing.

Rose had tried sending reassuring thoughts at the TARDIS. Maybe it was working?

“Ready?” Jack asked laying a hand on the console before hissing at a shock.

“If I didn’t’ know better, I’d say she was a jaded woman. You cheat on her Jack?” Rose teased and began working the controls. She still couldn’t fly the TARDIS on her own and needed help with coordinates but she knew some basics the Doctor taught her. And with a bit of experimenting, both she and Jack were able to find a translation circuit to help with a TARDIS manual Rose found in the library.

“I’d never cheat on this sexy girl” Jack proclaimed gazing up at the console. “Whatever it is I’m sorry. Can you maybe easy up on the burning and smacking the door on my arse?” 

Rose shook her head and again her thoughts turned to the Doctor. What would he think? Would the TARDIS tell him? Would he tell Rose? She hadn’t forgotten how much about Jack she suspected he kept secret from her.

Controls set, they materialized on the Plass near the entrance to Jack’s Torchwood.

“No offense but I think I’ll stay on the TARDIS for now and just sort of explore Cardiff a little bit at a time. I’m still really tired.”

“I understand. But I have a flat here for you whenever you want.” He walked over and laid his hands on her shoulders. “I’m here for you as much as you need. So is Torchwood. Just don’t lock yourself up with so many memories. Earth’s still out there. It’s not so bad when you get used to it.” Rose threw her arms around him and hugged him tight.

“I know. Thanks again for everything.”

After he left, Rose stood in the console room softly glowing as the TARDIS absorbed rift energy. Earth was out there but the knowledge she needed was in the library. Time to start learning. With a new plan in mind, Rose marched straight for the library and a crash course in temporal physics, interdimensional travel, rift dynamics and Time Travel for Dummies.


	2. Chapter 2

A month and a half after her move, after meeting Jack’s new team post Canary Wharf; making friends with a local alien soothsayer; and an alien refugee family from the planet, Komlaq known on Earth as the Devons, Rose settled into Cardiff.  Many of the shopkeepers near the Plass were used to her morning run and they were on a first name basis.  Running along the shops and Bay was her escape from the past and thoughts about the Doctor that led her down a darker more self-destructive guilt ridden path. 

She mixed in with the crowds on the street, often tourists or university students.  Jack provided her with a Torchwood issued laptop with applications she wouldn’t find anywhere else.  Although still leery, Rose appreciated the perk of keeping her identity and IP address anonymous.  She enrolled at Cardiff University as a Physics major in addition to her studies in the TARDIS library.

But it wasn’t all studies or life on the TARDIS.  Rose spent a few nights in the nearby flat to make Jack happy and prove she wasn’t becoming a hermit.  And she often ate with the Devons at their seafood restaurant on the bay.  The two youngest children were a product of a merged culture from Komlaq and Earth and often delighted Rose with games they brought with them or Earth games they tweaked for their culture.  It helped ground her, reminding her that life did go on and sometimes, even on Earth, it had an alien twist.

Jack designated her as a Torchwood independent contractor.  Rose resisted. Canary Wharf would always be a festering wound and one that caused her terrible nightmares.  But Jack had his mind set.  They paid her too much and her stomach knotted at accepting what she considered blood money.

“Stop,” Jack warned over a dinner at the local pub.  “This is new Torchwood, my Torchwood.  And just call it a save the Earth perk.  Even the Doctor accepted compensation from UNIT when he worked there.”

“And you know this how?” Rose asked.

“I’ve got some inter agency connections.”  He winked.  “And you need to make a living and do something other than hide out in the TARDIS.”

“I don’t hide out.  I’m studying and I did go to London to visit Sarah Jane last weekend.”

“Visit?  I heard it was more help her with a certain Slitheen type issue.”  A true joyful grin spread across her face.   It had been fun working with Sarah Jane, her son and his friends.  No guns, fun investigating and solving alien problems.  And she was good at it. 

“Maybe.”  She stabbed at her salad. 

“Take the money.  Try a little shopping therapy every once in a while.  And go explore a little.  There’s a lot around here and on Earth you haven’t seen.  You can still travel Rose.”

He was right and she did make her way around Cardiff and Wales on a few trips but something kept her close to the TARDIS.  She wasn’t sure what other than she felt off, twitchy, out of sorts and she tired easily.  Her energy had never returned to pre Canary Wharf levels.  Rose ignored it. 

It took time to recover from trauma and loss.  Her appetite fluctuated from no desire to eat to ravenous but only for certain things like bananas, ice cream, anything salty or tart.  Again, she dismissed it as an adjustment period.  The same with dizzy spells or that slight bout of indigestion after the first time she had chips again. 

The one thing she could not ignore was passing out during Torchwood poker night or vomiting spectacularly every day for a week afterward.

“Let Owen take a look at you.” Jack stared down as she grimaced in bed.

“Owen Harper?” Rose frowned.  “He’s a pervert.  A brilliant one but still disgusting.  And it’s just some weird stomach flu.  Probably an Earth thing since I’ve spent so much time here now.”

“What if it’s something you were exposed to at Canary Wharf?  Yvonne had all sorts of nasty stuff in her warehouse and yes I mean alien bacteria or viruses.”

“Jaacckkk it’s just the stomach flu,” Rose groaned and laid a hand on a coral wall next to her bed.  “Besides the TARDIS will take care of me.”

“The TARDIS can only do so much before you need medical intervention by a corporeal humanoid species not a transcendental time ship.”  The lights flickered.  “Although a very lovely, special creature that she is,” Jack added.

“Were you having any symptoms before you fell most dramatically into my arms, not that you were the first to do that.”  He waggled his brows at her.

“No, I mean maybe.  I’ve been tired and it took me a while to sleep normal after‑”  She trailed off her words and eyed the Doctor’s brown coat draped over the end of her bed.  Jack stared at it and then stilled. 

“That coat looks familiar.  I think I saw it in pictures on a certain spiky brown-haired hawty Time Lord.”  He aimed a speculative look at her.  Rose blushed and bit her lip.

“Yeah he didn’t have‑”  Her voice hitched.  “He didn’t have it on and he loved it.  Janice Joplin gave him that coat and he used to‑”  She trailed off, her entire body flushing at how he used to wrap it around her and one time, she wore the coat and nothing else to distract him from TARDIS repairs.

“You and the Doctor were together.”  A knowing smile lighted his face.  “Hot damn!  Finally! And I missed it!”  He slapped a hand on his thigh.   “All that sexual tension just killing me.  Who broke first?  It was him wasn’t it?  Leather him or Brown Pin-Striped Him?”

“Jack I told you what happened at the game station with the regeneration.  We didn’t shag while leaving you behind and him regenerating.”  Rose sat upright against her pillows.  “I mean I would have given a lot for it to happen with my first Doctor.  I loved him then as much as I do now.  And no one broke.”  She rolled her eyes and focused on patting down the blankets over her lap.

“It was just the right moment is all and no I’m not telling you more.”

Jack sat on the bed next to her and stilled her hands.  “I’m happy for you, honey.  You both deserved to be together.  As much as you don’t want to talk about it, we, meaning you and I or you and Owen need to discuss any…aftereffects.”

Rose yanked her hand away.  “Not bloody likely ever!  And what do you mean aftereffects?”

“Me it is,” he said in a pleased voice.  “So while you were enjoying hot time lord sex‑” Rose crossed her arms and directed what she hoped was her best Jackie Tyler glare at him.

“Did you take precautions because your symptoms are an awful lot like hormonal fluctuations of the gestating offspring variety.  You know…aftereffects.”

“I’m not pregnant.”  Rose’s voice couldn’t be more tight or certain.  “Time Lords don’t reproduce that way.  They’re infertile as in they shoot blanks.”

“You sure?  I mean he was the last of his kind, traveled the universe and was exposed to all sorts of things that can alter biology and up the ante on certain processes.  I’ve seen it happen.”

Rose looked Jack in the eyes.  He wasn’t teasing.  No way could he be right but her certainty wavered in the form of nausea gurgling in her stomach.

“He was always going on about superior Time Lord biology and how nothing affected him.”  Her voice softened and thinned as her mind raced with the possibility.

“Rose, you and I know, as brilliant as he is, he’s not always right.”  She swallowed hard and snuggled back into the pillow and stared at the coral ceiling.  The TARDIS hum seemed to fluctuate slightly. 

Rose clenched her fists.  She knew this TARDIS, knew every sound and every blinking light.  She also had a prickle on the back of her neck like the ship tried to communicate which wasn’t going so well without a Time Lord around to help things out.  And Rose was just a….whoa.  She sat up abruptly her hands settling on her stomach.

“I bring life.”  The words spilled out of her mouth in a gasp.  Oh shit.  Maybe she did more than save Jack.  What if she‑

“Easy now,” Jack drawled and pushed her shoulder until she lay flat.  “You’re not looking so good and I’m not feeling so hot myself with the whole Bad Wolf reference.  If we’re about to be attacked by Daleks‑”  His voice shook and Rose wanted to laugh, quite hysterically laugh.

“Not that I know of.  I just…oh god I think the TARDIS and I did a lot more than anyone realizes…even the Doctor.”

“Are you saying‑”  Jack trailed off, staring at her abdomen before a brilliant smile spread across his face.  “We shouldn’t get cranked up for no reason even if it looks like what we’re thinking.”

“Right.”  Rose nodded with a weak smile.  “No reason to panic cause in an instant of time god drunkenness I might actually have planned to knock myself up with my last of his kind, alien boyfriend’s baby!”  She pressed her fingers to her temple. 

“We can get this checked and‑”

“No Owen and no Torchwood,” Rose interrupted.  Although this might be Jack’s Torchwood, she couldn’t ignore a cautious tickle in the back of her head.  “Go to the chemist and pick up a couple of tests.”

“Rose,” Jack drew out her name and pinched the bridge of his nose.  “Owen is more accurate.”

“No.  This is my body and my potential baby and I have to protect myself and it.  Chemist first and then I’ll make a decision.”

“I know that stubborn look.”  He shook his head.  “All right, just promise me you’ll stay here and I won’t be long.”

After Jack left, Rose stared at the ceiling.  “You knew didn’t you.” 

She listened carefully and swore the TARDIS hum changed.  Damn it she wished they could talk.  It wasn’t like she didn’t try.  She’d read some texts in the libraries about telepathy exercises.  She had connected with the Doctor emotionally and sometimes got ideas across but never what she would call  _ talking _ .  He said she was much more telepathically adept than most humans.

Without answers from the time ship, it was time to think outside the box.  The pun did not elude her. 

Rose’s gut instinct pounded in her head that there was a way to have some sort of communication with the TARDIS even if it wasn’t talking.  She just had to find it.  More importantly though….her hand trailed down to her stomach and she swallowed hard.  Rose had to wrap her mind around the concept she might be pregnant and how that changed everything.  Tears sprang to her eyes.  The Doctor should be there.

#

Curled up in her favorite pink cotton jim jams on the colorfully tiled bathroom floor with Jack’s arm around her and her head on his shoulder was not how she planned on spending her day.  The coral walls seemed to sparkle in the soft light almost as if to calm her.  Jack had picked up no less than five tests.   She’d used all of them.  And now they waited staring at the blue counter.

“You know a long time ago in a very different time and place I was pregnant,” Jack announced softly.

Rose sat back and stared first at his face and then his stomach.  He grinned and patted his stomach.

“Different times.  Different technology and very different me.  I won’t lie, wasn’t easy and gave me an all new respect for people who reproduced by live birth and who do it more than once.”

“What happened to your baby?” Rose wasn’t sure if she should ask.

“I was a surrogate for friends.  Cute little boy.  I hear he made the intergalactic gravity luge team for his planet.  But that was a lifetime ago.  Still remember the symptoms though.” 

Rose laced her fingers with his and squeezed his hand.  He looked down at his watch.  “It’s time.  You want me to do it?”

“Together?” Her voice cracked at the word.  He nodded.  One by one they revealed the results. Positive.

“You should have a formal lab confirm this.”  Rose just stared at each stick barely hearing Jack.  This was real.  She was pregnant…with a Time Lord baby.  The world tipped sideways and she stumbled to the side.

“Okay back to bed with you.”  Jack scooped her up and gently laid her on the bed.

“Jack,” her voice croaked.  “I’m gonna have a baby.”

“Looks like.”  He grinned and fluffed her pillow.  “Time Baby on Board,” he teased.

“Oh my God.”  Rose stared up at the ceiling.  “I’m gonna be a mum.”  Tears poured down her cheeks.  “Without my mum.”

“Oh honey.”  Jack sat on the bed and pulled her into his arms and she wrapped herself around him, rubbing her cheek on his long blue coat.  “You’re not alone,” he assured.  “I’m here and so will Sarah Jane and your friends, the Devons and all of Torchwood, if you want.  Whatever you need, we’ll make it happen.”

“Thanks, Jack.”  She nestled in his arms, allowing herself one moment to feel sorry for herself and to accept comfort.  Later, she would be strong, make plans, and do whatever she had to make sure her baby was safe.  That was the hardest part.  No longer was this just about Rose’s pain and recovery; living a life on the edge of adventure or tossing caution to the wind no matter the consequences.  Now she had someone else to care for and protect.

#

Dreams plagued Rose for the next month following confirmation of her new motherly status.  She kept hearing the Doctor call for her or see him falling.  Sometimes they were happy dreams based on memories of an alien fair, watching comets burst across the sky in a rainbow of colors, dancing around the console, slipping into parties uninvited, running from danger or running back to the TARDIS.  But he was always there in her dreams. 

She continued studying in the TARDIS library, studying her university courses and pestering Jack with questions from his Time Agent training days.  Sarah Jane was there for her in a way that often brought Rose to tears.  It went beyond friendship now. 

Anyone willing to disguise herself and you to sneak you into a clinic under a false name to have secret pregnancy tests run and then sneak you out was more than just someone you took to tea.

Of course, every test came back positive.  Sarah Jane was the one who pushed her to prepare.  It didn’t matter if Rose was afraid, sad, raging at the universe or in a state of shock, this baby was coming.  When was the question.

No one had answers due to the alien biology of the child; and Rose’s time on the TARDIS and how time flowed differently and may have slowed the progression of her pregnancy.  Rose didn’t want contemplate how the whole Bad Wolf thing may have affected her.  And it wasn’t like Rose could trust anyone to ask questions anyway. 

She’d sworn Jack to secrecy until she couldn’t hide it.  She had no idea what to do then and suspected UNIT watched her.  Sarah Jane continued to assure her but in the end, it was up to Rose and only Rose to protect her baby.

It was in the library, curled up on the sofa reading a translated text on  _ Variations and Intersections of Temporal and Multi Universal Fractures _ and enjoying a cuppa when Rose had an epiphany.  The Rift.  If they could modulate the rift energy and run it through the tribophysical waveform macro kinetic extrapolater, and if they were lucky and there was still a hole open between universes, maybe she could get a message through.

#

“It’s too dangerous.”  Jack paced around the TARDIS console frowning.  “The last time the extrapolator connected to the rift, we almost ripped apart the planet.”

“This is different.  We control the TARDIS.  And Torchwood controls the rift manipulator.  We can coordinate efforts and focus the energy toward a purpose other than the uncontrolled volatile reaction Blon had planned.  There’s a hole open Jack.  I know it.”

“Rose there’s no indication of any universal perforations.  UNIT’s been at Canary Wharf monitoring it and found nothing.”

“They’re just UNIT.  They’re not us.”

He growled and raked a hand through his hair still pacing.  “The Doctor wouldn’t want us to risk the planet for one good bye and that’s what this is.”

“It’s more than that.  He needs to know the truth and Mum needs to know I’m okay.  And nothing will happen to Earth.  I’d never do that.” Rose followed him, hands clenched in frustration.

“You’re not thinking clearly.”

“Oh don’t give me that pregnant hormonal mother bull shit!”  Rose smacked her hand on the pilots seat.  “I care about this world.  My baby’s going to be born here and I’m not risking him or her.  And Maybe the Doctor can tell me something I need to know about how to have this baby.”

“Let me study it, run it through some models.”  Jack picked up her tablet but didn’t look convinced.  Rose laid a hand on his arm.

“That’s all I’m asking for now.  Look at it.  Let’s discuss the math and how to make it work safely.  I don’t care if you need to bring Tosh in on it.  She’s brilliant.  Just don’t’ mention my pregnancy.”

“You can be such a pain in the ass, you know?” He shoved the tablet in his pocket but still smiled.

“Yeah but you still love me and I’m worth it.” She bumped her shoulder against his side.

“I’m so gonna regret this.”

#

A month later, Jack was convinced and they worked on coordinating efforts, Rose and Jack on the TARDIS and Tosh and Ianto at the Rift manipulator.

“Ready?” Rose asked, standing at the console, her bright blue jacket a bloom of color against the coral.

“Not really but what the hell.  If we implode, blow ourselves through time or into the void, at least we’re in the TARDIS and it’ll be one hell of a ride!”

“It’s going to work,” Rose insisted, her fingers trailing over the console.  “I know it will.”  Jack laid his hand over hers.

“Let’s do this.”

A few tense minutes later with the TARDIS time rotor glowing a bright blue, the walls glowing golden and the whole ship vibrating, Rose focused all her mental energy on visualizing the Doctor calling out to him, begging for the universe to give her this one thing.

Concentrating so hard, she didn’t pay attention to the sparks or smoke that filled the room. Jack’s shouts to Torchwood were muffled.  Rose drifted on a sea of gray until she heard the Doctor’s voice:  _ Rose _ .

Tears burned her eyes.  “ _ Doctor, can you hear me _ ?”

“ _ You can’t be doing this.  It’s a trick _ .”

“ _ No, it’s me.  I’m in the TARDIS with Jack.  I need you to focus on my voice.  There’s not much time _ .”

His voice went silent and tears fell down her cheeks until suddenly he sounded louder almost like he was behind her.  “ _ Rose, tell me you’re not breaking down the walls to reality and killing all of us. _ ”

She laughed.  “Jack, I got him!”

“Not much time.  Hurry.”  Jack’s voice sounded tight.

“ _ We used the Cardiff Rift and the TARDIS to send a message.  I’m sorry, that’s all I can do _ ,” Rose responded in a broken voice.

“ _ Use the calroxian modulator setting of four six three and have Jack set the translation circuit to Alpha Trifect Two and then initiate Emergency Program Zeta _ .”

Rose give the instructions to Jack and a hologram of the Doctor appeared with her mother, Pete and Mickey in the background.

“Hi,” she choked out.

“Rose Tyler,” he breathed her name and the sound sank deep into her soul.

“Are you and mum okay?”

“Yes, we’re fine thanks to Pete.  You said you’ve got Jack there?” His eyes bore a hopeful expression.

“Yeah, long story but we moved the TARDIS to Cardiff.  We’re okay.  I just miss you.”

“Torchwood.”  She shivered at the fury simmering in his dark eyes as he spit out the name.

“Sorted.  Jack, Sarah Jane and UNIT took care of it.  Sarah Jane’s been helping me too.”

“Good.”  The image blurred and blinked.

“We don’t have much time.  Doctor, please if there’s anything I can do to get you back or you can get here, we need you.”

“Two universes would collapse.”  He swallowed hard, his face softening with yearning.  “Nothing we can do.  Just leave the TARDIS and go live your life.  Be Rose Tyler.”  His voice thinned and his bottom lip trembled.

“I can’t do that without you.  I…I love you Doctor.  And we need you so much.”

“Rose…I…who’s we?”

“I’m pregnant.”  She openly wept.  “So much for not without jiggery pokery and it’s impossible.”

“But you can’t be.”

“I am and we need you.  I need your help.  Please Doctor. I’ve got Jack and Sarah Jane but…Doctor, I don’t know how to do this without you.”

“Rose Tyler, I--”  The transmission cut off and the TARDIS shuddered and thick black smoke hung high in the air.  Rose sank to the grating and covered her face with her hands.  After a few terse commands, Jack was on the grating pulling her into his arms.

“It’s all right sweetheart.  I got you.  He knows now.  And your mum and him looked great.  Everything’s all right.” 

Rose collapsed into Jack’s arms.  She’d hoped with every beat of her heart some miracle would happen.  The universe really was a bit shit.  But she was too tired to care and sank back into grief. The only light was the small spark of life within her and by god she would see that spark live.  Even if she couldn’t live the life the Doctor wanted, her baby would have a fantastic life.


	3. Chapter 3

Smack!  The Doctor stumbled backward, rubbing his now reddened cheek. 

“You knocked up my baby!  Now she’s pregnant and all alone you alien git!”

“It’s not like I planned this!” the Doctor retorted, staying well out of range of the enraged, hormonally unbalanced Jacqueline Tyler, now six months along in her own pregnancy. 

“Not planned!  Not Planned”  Jackie charged after him as Pete intervened holding her back.

“It shouldn’t even be possible!  I’m not…I mean my people didn’t--”  The Doctor decided for once not to finish speaking his thought.  He knew all too well about Jackie Tyler’s temper and he was still reeling and attempting to grasp the concept of Rose’s pregnancy.   His mind whirled with the thought and calculations buzzed through is mind, time differentials between this universe and his prime universe.  How far along was she?

Mickey slapped a hand on his shoulder.  “Congratulations mate and condolences.  Not for the baby but you know.”  He nodded toward where Jackie, fists balled shouted at Pete who remained blessedly calm.

“I can’t…it’s not…”  The Doctor walked in a circle in the cursed room at Torchwood Tower refusing to look at the white wall that caused his time sense to shriek and sent blasting pain through the center of his brain. 

Trauma from barely escaping the Void, his logic pointed out.  But logic was tenuous at best as every nerve ending screamed like it did after the Time War.  And then he had the TARDIS but that was just the point.  No TARDIS.  No Rose.  No sanctuary or soothing presence to buffer out the nightmares and random terrifying memories.

His hearts slammed in his chest.  A cold sweet broke out and he ripped at his hair.  He couldn’t suck in air and his chest constricted.  Too quiet.  Too Bright.  Too everything.  He fell forward onto the floor, trembling.

“Easy Boss.”  Mickey’s artron signature wasn’t enough to calm the panic clawing through him. 

“You don’t understand.”  He balled his fists and slammed them on the floor, his mind screamed and stretched out in this wrong universe seeking something…anything with which to connect, to hurt, lash out or ease his suffering.  The building vibrated.  “Fucking Torchwood!”

“Doctor, calm down.”  Pete shoved a sputtering Jackie out the door.

“But Pete!  He’s got to do something!”

“Not now Jacks.” 

Pete knelt next to the Doctor and squeezed his shoulder.  “You’re having another panic attack.  You’ve got breath and focus on one thing…one thing you can control.”

“Time. Lords. Don’t. Have. Panic Attacks.”  The Doctor gritted his teeth as he growled the words.  His respiratory bypass didn’t kick in even as oxygen depleted in his blood.

“Yeah well, I don’t think many Time Lords almost got sucked into the Void, tossed into a closed off parallel universe without their ship and just learned their going to be a dad with no way to get to their pregnant girlfriend.  So let’s give it a try, yeah?  Now Breathe.”  Pete squeezed his shoulder and the Doctor swore his head cracked open.   His lungs released and he sucked in air.  Sweat dampened his hair and ran down his face as he squeezed his eyes shut.”

“Breathe,” Pete ordered, a steadying hand on his back.  “Micks.”

A dull thud sounded and he opened his eyes to find a silver sphere in front of him, an Arcadian puzzle similar to an Earth Rubik’s Cube.  Pete had showed it to him not long after he arrived asking for help identifying it.  He’d brushed it off as an amusement and child’s toy even as he restlessly bounced it hand to hand.

The surface reacted to his telepathic anguish, at first turning black and dull and then cracked with red glowing from within.   He used it as a focal point, scooping it into his hands as he knelt.  It was a poor substitute for what he needed but it would do.  Slowly, the tattered threads of his mind realigned.  He gripped the ball and relaxed his shoulders with one shuttering released breath.

“Better?” Pete asked.

The Doctor snorted.  “No, but I suppose it will due.”  He stood and nodded at Mickey.  “Thank you.”

“No worries.  We should get you out of here.  Seems to be worse when you’re near…you know.”

The Doctor refused to look at the abomination of white.  He’d ranted and raved enough at it the day he arrived back with Pete.  No, he was done wasting his energy.  Instead, he tilted his chin up and pocketed the sphere. 

“Torchwood, you mean,” he responded to Mickey’s silence.  He never did like silence and especially when words were so useful.

“This Torchwood didn’t cause your problems,” Pete insisted.

“So everyone says yet it’s here with your guns and stolen technology.”

“Technology that could help you.”  Mickey crossed his arms, refusing to budge.

“As if I would ever,” the Doctor sneered.

“You might if it helped you stay healthy and if it could help Rose,” Pete was quick to interject.  “Seems like she’s put all the effort into finding you and made sure things are sorted on her side.  After everything she lost and what she’s going through, she didn’t give up or turn away from doing what’s right.  If she were my daughter, I’d be proud.”

The Doctor met Pete’s unflinching gaze and nodded his head.  “She’s brilliant.  More than she’ll ever admit to.”

“And she’s with Captain Cheesecake,” Mickey pointed out with a smirk.  “He might be a bit on the pull but he’ll keep her from blowing anything up on that side.  Guess that means I got to keep tabs on you over here.”

The Doctor rolled his eyes and scowled, slowly making his way toward the door.

“Rose would have my arse if I didn’t take care of you.”  Mickey slapped him on the back as they walked toward the lift.

Jackie waited, pacing and rubbing her baby bump.

“I’m sorry.  I shouldn’t have slapped you.”  Tears streaked her face as she walked up to the Doctor and pulled him into her arms.  “I’m so sorry, sweetheart.  It’s not fair.”

The Doctor swallowed hard, reluctantly accepting her comfort until his arms wrapped around Jackie. 

“No, it’s not.”  The lift dinged and they climbed on board for the descent out of the tower.

“So what are we doing?” Jackie demanded, zipping up her light blue coat.

“The Doctor is going to take time to think,” Pete responded.

“Think.” She snorted.  “He’s done plenty of that already. The guest bedroom walls are covered in a mish mash of numbers and nonsense.”

“I needed to run calculations.  The devices on this world aren’t sufficient.”

“Torchwood might have something better if his lordiness could get himself off his pedestal,” Mickey noted.

“Yes cause using the evil governmental agency used to subdue, subvert and probably aided in the Cybermen attack is the right resource,” the Doctor responded dryly

“It’s none of those things now.  And it is the right resource.  When you’re done raging, grieving and ready to take action, we will be here.” Pete remained calm and a beacon of authority amidst the group.  Even the Doctor admired how Pete wore an air of assuredness even when faced with aliens, a parallel version of his dead wife and an almost world destroying event.

The lift opened and Pete, Jackie and the Doctor walked out of the building leaving Mickey behind to deal with the ever present bureaucracy.  The Doctor internally stewed over Pete’s words.  Although he respected Pete, he couldn’t believe anything about Torchwood.  Even a good man like Pete could be fooled.

He slid in the back seat of a black SUV beside Jackie.

“She looked good,” Jackie commented.  “A bit thin and out of sorts but not like she’s starving or hurt.”

“Yes.”  The Doctor didn’t want to talk and leaned back staring out the window at zeppelins floating overhead.

“I’m glad Jack and Sarah Jane are with her.  At least she has help, a support system, and she’s not giving up hope.”  The Doctor glanced at Jackie.

“I know my daughter and she’s emotionally devastated, maybe more than you, but she still picked her arse back up and went to work.  She deserves the same.”

“Meaning?” he spit the word out and knew he should soften his tone.  None of this was Jackie’s fault.  Her expression hardened and her blue eyes drilled into him.

“Meaning she didn’t give up on you even though she suffered and not just from loss.  She’s pregnant Doctor, and that means she’s got all sorts of other things making her feel like shit.”

He squirmed under her glare and didn’t want to hear more but had a feeling he was in for a humany mother lecture.  Ironic that him, nearly a millennium or more old, give or take a century, was being lectured by someone not a tenth of his age and yet her words carried weight.  For as much as the Doctor avoided domestics and even lectures by his own people, Jackie held his respect.  She raised Rose, a single mother with the world against her, and she raised the most important woman in the Doctor’s life.

“She’s an emotional mess, got morning sickness, cravings, dizziness, gas, has to pee all the time and that’s just the start.  And she’s dealing with all these changes in her body when she’s grieving for me and you.  And I hate to think what having an alien baby will do to her.”  She narrowed her eyes on him.  “And that’s why she needs you.”  Jackie poked him in the chest. 

The Doctor’s mouth went dry.  Rose pregnant with his child on a world with people who would use her and their child; and she suffered.  His hearts galloped and he tugged at his seatbelt.  He needed to do something.  Jack and Sarah Jane weren’t enough.

“Now you’re getting it.  I’m glad she has help and god bless all of them.  But she needs you and that baby needs you too.  So whatever we need to do to fix this, we’re doing.”  Jackie crossed her arms with a determined Tyler look he’d often seen on Rose.

“I’ll need to take more readings on this universe’s energy, how time flows, the integrity of the universal walls.”

He caught a glimpse in the rearview mirror of Pete smiling.

“No Torchwood.  At least not yet.  Not until I’m sure nothing I do will adversely affect your world or this universe.  Rose wouldn’t want that.” 

He flexed his hand, reminding himself of her warm grasp and focused on that to remind him to not lose sight of his morals and the laws of time.  It would be all too easy to let go and say fuck it to his Time Lord training.  He was already on that edge with a mad voice whispering in his mind:  _ do it do it do it _ .

#

He locked himself away in the Tyler garden shed.  He’d already raided the house of electronics and kitchen appliances cobbling together what he needed.  The sonic was his savior and not just with building devices to detect, measure, modulate and record.  It was a piece of home. 

Madness was always on the periphery of his mind and especially at night when the house was silent and nothing sounded other than the hum of a zeppelin overhead.  Several nights he balled himself up in a corner and dug gouges in his face and scalp fighting off his mind’s way of filling the silence with the screams of the dying; the mechanical screeches of Daleks; the roar of his people as they cried out in terror and Rose’s screams as he fell at Canary Wharf.

Some nights he would walk through the woods behind the house and unleash his inner rage by stretching out his mind, focusing on exciting ions in the atmosphere and manipulating atoms until his mood manifested in howling winds, lightening and storms that raged across London.  He’d stand in the pouring rain screaming and then laughing as lightning struck a tree showering him with sparks.  Destruction felt good, made him feel powerful and not like a victim or a refugee.

But the rain soaked in chilling through his skin down to his core.  The reminder chased away the madness and especially when he thought of Rose and what she would think.  He swallowed back sobs at how disappointed she would be and sank into the muddy soil.  This wasn’t the him she loved or needed.  It was the darkness he fought and why he’d held Rose back for so long.

He dragged himself back to the shed and stared at tables and walls filled with work and yet none of it mattered.  The Doctor would slump down on a chair and doze off but even that didn’t provide him with any respite or inspiration.  His dreams were as torturous as the silent night.

After two weeks of avoiding the Tylers and living on nothing but what he snatched from the cupboards in the middle of the night, Pete kicked down the door with Torchwood agents behind him.

“I knew it.”  The Doctor aimed his sonic at the men dressed in black uniforms.  “You think you can just use and control me!”  He whipped the sonic in the air like a wand.  “Think I’m just going give you an advantage and help you conquer this world and the next.  I think not.  You won’t have me or Rose and her world.  I won’t allow it!”

“Doctor, you’ve been out here for weeks.  You need rest and to eat.”

“I’m busy.”  A madness slid across his mind and pulsed in his veins.   He was a Time Lord, superior to them.  He could crush them with a few words.

“Do you think Rose would like to see you suffer like this?  Do you think Jackie does?”

“I’m doing this for Rose.  She needs me and I…I’ve got to find a way…I’ve got to keep her safe.”  His voice stuttered and his hands shook as the lights in the shed flickered.  “Stupid primitive human resources!”  His face heated with rage as he activated his sonic. 

Two darts struck in in his shoulder and neck.  “Ha!  Time Lord me!  Superior biology you can’t--”  His vision went blurry.  “No, I’ve got to finish.  Too much to do.”  Blackness claimed him.

Head throbbing and mouth like cotton, the Doctor slowly opened his eyes.  He squinted and blinked.  He focused on his biology which was filtering out some sort of toxin.  And he couldn’t move his arms.  He looked down. 

“Why am I in a straight jacket?”

“Cause you went mad,” Mickey answered sitting in a chair reading a book barely sparing a glance at him.

The Doctor sat up on a cushioned bed and inspected the room, sterile, bland with no windows, a bedside table, carafe and water glass. And one smug looking Mickey Smith as he shut his book and stared at the Doctor

“You’ve got to stop this,” Mickey said and scratched at the slight scruff of a beard.

“Stop what?” the Doctor snapped struggling against the restraints.  Houdini had showed him a few tricks.  He hoped Pete’s World straight jackets were like those in his prime universe.

“Look, I want you to solve this.  You going mad makes for more paperwork and scares the shit out of our agents.  And it worries Jackie.”

The Doctor stopped just as he’d loosened one important bit.

“Maybe your agents should be scared if they’re going to break into my lab and point weapons at me,” he said with as much bite as his dry mouth would let him.  He really could use some water.

“Boss, listen to me.  You want to go home.  I get it.  You’re desperate to get to Rose.  We all want to help.  But you can’t do it alone living off in the shack like Gollum surviving on a tin of biscuits, jam and tea.  And you can’t go howling out in the woods like a nutter.  Especially when you’re doing some Time Lord weird shit to stir up the weather.”

The Doctor thudded his head back against the pillows.  Mickey was right but stubbornness prevailed.

“I was experimenting and I needed a bit of vent.  And London needed the rain anyway.”

“Yeah but it was a bit more than that.  That storm took out a power grid.  And that stuff in the shed created an EMP charge that set off alarms all over Torchwood.  You have to work with us and maybe give us a chance to help you.  You can have a real lab here, one that’s secure and you know, not a fire hazard.”

“Torchwood,” he grunted as he dislocated one shoulder enough to wiggle out of the restraint.  One more tug and he’d have his arm out.

“I can let you out of that, you know.”

“Then why haven’t you?” the Doctor snapped, annoyance flaring along with hunger and thirst.

“Cause I promised Pete I’d make sure you were sane first.”  The Doctor snorted.

“I’m the sanest person here.”  Mickey grinned and shook his head.

“Doctor, you may be brilliant and the smartest person on this planet but you’ve never been all there.  Even Rose knew that.”  Mickey stood up and walked over to pour a glass of water.  The Doctor eased his struggles eyes focused on each drop that splashed in the glass.

“What I need to you to do is promise me you’re not gonna blow up the planet or take over the world and accept help when you need it.  I need you to promise you’re gonna eat and sleep and talk about what’s getting under your skin instead of going all vengeful god out in the woods.”

A weight settled on the Doctor’s shoulders which already ached from his struggles.  Icy fear at what he could become if Pete hadn’t stopped him slid through his veins. 

“I love Rose even if she has rubbish taste in boyfriends,” Mickey acknowledged wincing when he realized that included him.  “I don’t want to see her hurt or have to tell her that you went mad and exploded or burned yourself up.  Let us help you.  You aren’t as alone as you think.”

The Doctor’s throat thickened with emotion he fought against.  He didn’t want to be alone.  This world was so wrong.  And even though he was used to a dimensionally transcendental time machine, he felt so small on this one planet.  After the Time War he wanted to die and was so sure he would end and that same feeling was the sensation riding him.  Rose had rescued him but she wasn’t here to stop him this time.   His body shook and he gasped back tears.

“I didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”  He squeezed his eyes shut.  “I just needed to focus on Rose to find a way back.”

“You will,” Pete assured, the door clicking shut behind him.  “But not alone.  You do this at Torchwood with our resources, help and supervision.”

The Doctor wrinkled his nose and groaned.

“Yes, Doctor,” Pete said in a put upon sigh.  “We need to make sure both universes are safe.  And you need someone to make sure you’re not overwrought and--”

“Going loony,” Mickey finished with a slight chuckle.  “Man, I see Rose again and I’m so telling her how much she owes us.”

“Please don’t.” the Doctor freed himself and tossed the restraints aside and reached for the water glass relieved at cool fresh undrugged water.  

“So you agree,” Pete demanded with a stern look.

“Yes, fine whatever,” the doctor waved his hand in the air and stood wincing as the room tilted slightly as his body still expelled whatever they used.  “What exactly did you shoot me with if you don’t mind my asking considering it is my body.”

“We have a trade agreement with a species known as the Procpinx.  Their quills are known to take down even species resistant to most sedatives and those with a binary vascular system.”

“How long did it take you to find that?” the Doctor demanded with more than just bitterness.  He wanted to know exactly how much Pete Tyler didn’t trust him.

“A week after you refused to come out for dinner.  I know what an emotional melt down is like and rang them up as a contingency plan.”

Any anger or outrage fled.  Pete did know.  He’d told the Doctor one night in his study how he went a bit mad after he lost his first Jackie.  Only his intervention involved being pissed out of his mind for two days until Mickey and Jake found him.  Stubborn and arrogant the Doctor was, but even he could see a parallel.  Hitting rock bottom.  Oh he hated to admit he was as bad as a human but he was.

“Right,” he said and scratched the back of his neck.  “No more working myself mad or you know venting at the universe.  Sorry about the power grid.”

“Sorry you had the need.  Just, let’s try talking and indulging in some of my very expensive Scotch next time.  Might be healthier for everyone.”

“Got it” The Doctor acknowledged with a salute.

“Good, now let’s get you home so Jackie can have a good fuss over you.” Pete waved a key card and the door unlocked.

“Do I have to?” the Doctor whinged as Mickey snickered off to the side.

“Yes.  You will eat, hydrate, talk to me and then sleep in that order.”

With a sigh and a throbbing headache the Doctor agreed.  As he walked out of Torchwood for the third time, it occurred to him he had once again been corralled into working for an Earth governmental agency.  At least this time, he had a goal he found far more palatable, finding a way home to Rose.  And if he found trouble along the way and made sure Torchwood kept on the straight and narrow so be it.


	4. Chapter 4

“Donna!” Rose spotted her friend across the street. Donna Noble had quickly become one of Rose’s dearest friends. Rose and Jack had saved her life at one of the worst moments in Rose’s life. But then again, maybe it was the right time. Donna appeared on the TARDIS just as Rose lost connection with the Doctor. Donna’s appearance provided a reprieve and a mystery distracting Rose from her aching heart.

“Finally! Been looking all over for you!” Donna exclaimed and embraced Rose. “You look amazing! Captain Hawtness is taking good care of you.”

Rose giggled and blushed at the high praise. Donna always looked stylish to her. Her wedding gown had been amazing. Pity the groom had been such a wanker but then again, he did end up a snack for the Racnoss. 

“You’re the one who looks amazing!” I love this color!” Rose couldn’t help but beam at how much Donna had changed. Gone was the self-conscious woman whose mother had battered her self-esteem. In her place was a proud ginger wearing a fitted fuchsia wrap dress that screamed confident, sexy woman.

“Found it at Henriks. Thanks for the tip about the sales girl. Your friend Keisha is the best and too smart for that job. I gave her my card.” Rose beamed at the thought of being able to help a friend from the estate.

“How’s the new temp agency? Jack says with the new security clearance, you’ll be supplying admin to a lot of government agencies now,” Rose confided, looping her arm with Donna’s.

“I wouldn’t want to brag….yes I would! I can’t believe how busy we are. Three months ago I never imagined more than getting married now look me, I own my own company. People ask me for a job!”

“You deserve it. You’re brilliant, you are.”

“I don’t know about that.” Rose squeezed her arm. Even after they worked together to defeat the Racnoss; after being kidnapped; after Lance and losing everything but her family, Donna still couldn’t believe her life turned out for the better. But Rose was determined to help Donna see how special she truly is and not just because she was dosed with Huon particles.

“Thanks for coming with us today.” Rose’s stomach knotted and her heart fluttered at the thought of the new tech at Royal Hope Hospital that would give her first 3D look at the baby.

“I’m happy to be here for you. No word from your space man then?” Rose swallowed hard, tears still easily burst out at a moment’s notice. Then again, that could be her hormones which seemed all over the place.

“No, not since right before I met you. Everything Jack’s seen in the UNIT reports show the universal walls are sealed.”

Donna stopped and pulled Rose into her arms. “It’s gonna be all right. If he’s half as brilliant as you say, he’ll find a way.” 

“Thanks Donna. I know. It’s just hard sometimes.”

“Of course it is. And when he gets back we all get to let him have it.” Rose burst out into laughter. 

She’d heard that same thing from Sarah Jane and Jack as well. They meant well but Rose would be happy to just have the Doctor around to help with the baby. She was a little over six months gone by human time estimate but she only looked three and half months. 

Jack thought it might have something to do with how time flows in the TARDIS and wanted her to spend more time in the flat. Rose agreed the TARDIS could be affecting her pregnancy but maybe that wasn’t a bad thing. Then again, it could be alien biology at work. There were just so many questions and not many answers. She’d been tempted to take Jack up on his offer of Torchwood but something still held her back, kept her near the TARDIS. Maybe it was motherly instinct?

“There are my gorgeous gals!” Jack's blue coat flared as he marched toward them. Royal Hope rose up behind him and Rose shivered and pulled her new trench coat around her. Maybe this wasn’t such a good plan.

“Hey now, none of that frowning business.” He cupped her cheek. “You okay?”

“Yeah, just nervous.”

“Of course she’s nervous,” Donna wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “She’s about to get a good look at the little time nugget.”

“Please let’s not call him or her that,” Rose groaned.

“I don’t know.” Jack shrugged. “Kind of fits. Sarah Jane’s running late. She’ll meet us inside.”

They marched up the steps of the hospital just as dark clouds built. Rose slowed and people walked by them including a young tough in motorcycle helmet dressed all in black who knocked Donna aside. 

“Oi! Watch it! People have no respect.”

Jack’s grip tightened on Rose. “Maybe we should do this another day,” he said slowly gazing up at the sky.

“No, the equipment’s only on loan through tomorrow. And I’m still not comfortable with a standard ultra sound. Sarah Jane says this equipment is based on noninvasive alien tech UNIT found a decade ago. The science people at UNIT worked with this alien species the Karpey something. Their telepathic and sensitive to vibrations so if the baby can’t tolerate an ultra sound--”

“Kaypar-ah and I know,” Jack acknowledged “Read all about it. It should be safe. Just got a bad feeling about those clouds.” Jack nudged her forward.

“Yeah, me too,” Rose agreed and clutched her coat around her.

“You two and your and weird feelings.” Donna clamped onto Rose’s other arm. "Still...best to be prepared. I brought supplies just in case. She clutched her large bag under her arm.

“Should I be afraid?” Jack teased, opening the door for them.

“Always, Captain,” Donna retorted and with smirk she walked Rose inside.

The medicinal smell nearly caused Rose to lose her lunch. Everything about hospitals and clinics reminded her of Canary Wharf. She didn’t know why. They just did. Thankfully, she had Donna and Jack with her. With a confidence none of them had, they marched through the hospital toward the floor Sarah Jane instructed.

Rose whipped out the psychic paper at the nurses station on the third floor where an attending physician lectured interns in a dull uninterested tone. A smile curved her lips at the group of five, three men and two women, one of whom stared blankly as if she’d rather be anywhere else. Rose couldn’t blame her and had a similar experience in an astrophysics lecture the other day.

“May I help you?” a gray haired nurse asked.

“Doctors, Tyler, Harkness and Noble here to study the Dimensional Immersion Opto Scan Device.”

They signed in and were directed to room at the end of the corridor with instructions a technician would be in shortly to demonstrate DIOS to them. If all went according to plan, that technician was a nurse friend of Sarah Janes who agreed to keep quiet in exchange for Jack’s help finding his boyfriend who vanished while investigating Torchwood Three in Scotland right before Canary Wharf happened. 

Nurse Scott Rees arrived right on schedule. The young brown haired man eyed Jack. “I don’t see Miss Smith.”

“She was delayed but we can’t be. I understand we can count on your discretion?” Jack positioned himself in between the nurse and Rose and Donna. Normally Rose would push him aside but she was more skittish with impending motherhood and no Doctor around.

“You can if I can count on your help,” the young freckle faced man with Welsh accent demanded.

Jack pulled out an envelope. “Your boyfriend’s in a safe house outside of Glasgow. He got nervous after Canary Wharf and went dark. It’s safe to contact him…after you help us.”

“How do I know you’re telling me the truth?” The nurse’s voice shook as he held the envelope, tears shining in light gray eyes. Rose stepped forward.

“Because we know what it’s like to lose someone special. And if we can help you, it makes our loss a little less hard. But I need your help too.” She laid her palm on her abdomen over her coat.

He nodded. “We were never here and there’s no evidence this happened.” He proceeded to explain the process and how Rose would don a special lycra suit studded with sensors and then immerse herself into a vat of lukewarm saline solution.

Donna helped Rose while Jack chatted up the nurse. As Rose removed her coat and pulled off her yellow and orange floral print maxi dress over her head, she looked down at her little bump. She rested her hands on her stomach hoping being on the TARDIS really was best for the baby and this slow growth was normal for a Time Lord child. The tears came once again.

“Stupid hormones,” she muttered as Donna helped her into the black stretch fabric that clung to her but didn’t press on the baby. She climbed into the tub and looked over at Jack and Nurse Rees. She focused on the baby trying to think comforting thoughts.

The water swirled around her in gentle waves and bubbles.

“That’s it,” Nurse Rees said. “You can come out now..

Rose stepped out, dried off and dressed. Donna and Jack were next to the nurse silent. Nerves twisted in her stomach. Please don’t let anything be wrong.

When she the image of her baby, she understood why her friends were quiet, warmth bloomed in her chest and tears cascaded down not just her face but Jack and Donna as well. 

“It’s a baby.” Rose couldn’t think of anything else to say. 

A door opened behind them. “Sorry!” the white coated woman said and her eyes widened at the hologram. “That’s amazing!”

Rose stilled, her fingers digging into her purse which contained a stun gun. She knew the Doctor wouldn’t approve but he wasn’t here and she had a baby to protect. She narrowed her eyes on the intern she’d seen earlier. 

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” Nurse Rees demanded in hard tone. “Show me your ID?”

Jack moved in front of the hologram, Donna beside him. Rose knew he carried retcon even though she’d argued with him over its use. Jack’s Torchwood used the drug to erase memories of anyone who experienced extraterrestrial or any other odd rift activity Jack didn’t want them to remember, like the very existence of Torchwood. 

“No,” Rose murmured at Jack with emphasis as something shifted in the air and a slight charge raised the hair on her arms. She’d noticed the intern earlier and now she was here. That wasn’t an accident.

“Martha Jones,” Nurse Rees stated reading her ID. “You’re a medical student and have no authority to be here. Especially, not during a private procedure.”

“Sorry. Dr. Stoker forgot his pen when we were here earlier.” She focused on a silver pen sitting on a platform near the scanning device.

Rose picked it up and handed it to Martha. 

“Thanks, sorry to bother you,” Martha said softly as Nurse Rees cast a hard and condemning look.

“I’ll be speaking to Dr. Stoker about this,” Nurse Rees stated in a clipped voice. “And I would remind you to remember the hospital’s privacy policy.”

“Yes sir,” Martha stated in a cold tone as she turned to leave. She looked back one more time. “I’m sorry for disturbing you.” She slipped out and all of them breathed a collective sigh of relief.

“I should take care of that,” Jack said, hard gaze still on the door.

“No, let her go. It’ll be all right,” Rose assured. 

“Rose--”

“It will be,” she quickly inserted. “I have a good feeling.” She turned a smile on Nurse Rees. “Now where were we?”

Nurse Rees walked back to his equipment, a tension set in his shoulders. “Everything looks normal from what Sarah Jane told me. I understand genetic anomalies run in the family?”

“Yeah,” Rose said in a shaky voice, grateful for the story she and Sarah Jane concocted. Although nervous, she still counted fingers and toes on the image and memorized every detail like the pert little nose and cheekbones reminding her of the Doctor. 

“There’s a slight heart echo and a few shadows I don’t recognize but it could be interference. This technology is still experimental. She looks healthy and likes to move around. You have an active girl here.” Tears pricked her eyes as Jack pulled her into his arms and kissed the top of her head. 

“She’s beautiful,” Donna said in a choked voice, rubbing Rose’s back.

Nurse Rees downloaded the image on a memory stick and handed it to Rose. “You should have an ultra sound to confirm in the next two months.” He turned back to the device and flipped a few switches and pressed, ironically enough, a flashing red button. “Looks like we had a power surge and it erased all the logs for the past day.

“Thank you.” Rose’s voice shook from the emotion of the moment. “I hope you and your boyfriend have a wonderful reunion.”

“I have it on good authority they will,” Jack assured. The nurse thanked them again and shut everything down as they were leaving.

“I’m sorry Sarah Jane--” Rose trailed off as the hospital lurched and her stomach did a flip. Jack grabbed onto her as Donna stumbled forward. 

One of the nurses at the station down the hall screamed “Oh my god!” People rushed down the hall toward a lounge area and the lights flickered.

“Donna, you okay?” Jack asked. 

“Fine. Was that an earthquake?”

“I don’t think so,” Jack called out before shoving Rose at Donna and raced down the hall.

“Come on, Donna,” Rose ordered and the two women followed. They passed a woman in blue scrubs who stumbled away from a window and fainted. The rest of the crowd backed away and began scattering.

“Oh shit,” Rose gasped. “Of all the days, there has to be aliens mucking about, it has to be when I get my baby scan.”

“Are we on the moon?” Donna gasped.

Rose stared at the darkness and the dull gray landscape. “Yep.”

“This is impossible.” Rose looked next to her and found Martha Jones. Three times had to be the charm. Something about Martha was important and Rose intended to find out what. She met the woman’s brown eyed gaze.

“Martha right?” Rose confirmed. “Rose Tyler.”

“We’re on the moon,” Martha stated. “I mean in space on the moon.”

“Looks like,” Rose agreed

“But how?” Donna asked and held her hand out to Martha. “Donna Noble by the way, nice to meet you.”

“Good question.” Rose nodded and then they heard more screams. Jack came racing down the hall.

“We’ve got company and not the fun kind.” 

“Jack, this is Martha Jones. You remember?”

“Captain Jack Harkness.” He winked at her.

“Oh stop it!” Donna chastised.

Two large bipedal rhinoceros type aliens marched onto the floor, armed and pressing scanning devices on anyone they could grab.

“What are they?” Martha asked, her jaw dropping.

“Aliens more than likely.” Rose sighed. She was supposed to be on Earth, a safe place to have a baby. Unless, apparently, it was the Doctor’s baby and then all bets were off.

“I’m not even surprised any more. Not after the past few years.” Martha shook her head and stared down the hall at people running away.

“They look like rhinoceros people,” Donna commented and wrinkled her nose and cocked her head to the side.

“Maybe this is a dream,” Martha commented in a tired tone. “I fell asleep studying and this is some weird way my mind is dealing with the stress.”

“You’re not dreaming,” Rose commented and smiled. “But nice try.” She patted Martha on the arm.

“They’re Judoon. Sort of space cops for hire,” Jack confided. “They’re looking for someone who doesn’t belong…someone alien.”

“Wizard,” Donna exclaimed and looked at Rose’s stomach. “We’ve got to get her out of here.”

“Where?” Martha demanded. “We’re on the moon and wait.” The lights flickered again. “How are we breathing?”

“She’s good.” Rose nudged Jack who was now assessing Martha in a new light.

“Very observant. There’s a force field around us so the air is locked in.”

“But that means we only have what’s here,” Martha reasoned. 

“What happens when we run out?” Donna asked.

“We can’t breathe,” Jack answered eyeing Rose. “But we’re not going to let things get that far.”

“Why move us to the moon?” Rose paced a few steps tapping her fingers against her thigh.

“Neutral territory,” Jack answered. “According to galactic law, they've got no jurisdiction over the Earth, so they isolated the hospital up here to find whoever they’re looking for.”

“Well maybe we should find whoever this is first and hand them over,” Rose suggested.

“We?” Jack asked with a laugh. “I don’t think so.” He began pushing Rose toward a stairwell.

“Jack, no one’s safe until we solve this,” Rose insisted, annoyed with overprotective friends.

“Yeah, including you. Speaking of which, let’s fix that.” He encouraged Rose, Donna and Martha into the stairwell. “Get her some place safe, preferably a few floors up while I get this fixed.”

“How are you going to fix this?” Martha demanded. “You don’t even know who or what they’re looking for.” Martha rubbed at her temples. “I can’t believe I just said that.”

“She’s got a point.” Donna pushed forward toward Jack. “We need access to Hospital records and a way to narrow things down.”

“I could help with that,” Martha offered.

“Martha, you’re with me,” Jack ordered. “Donna get Rose out of here now.” Screams echoed in the hall. “Go!” Jack and Martha left. 

“Up the stairs it is.” Rose led as she and Donna climbed up several floors. They exited on a floor that seemed vacant. 

“At least it’s quiet,” Donna muttered gulping air after the stairs. They made their way to a nurses station where Rose sat down and fixated on a computer screen.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Donna crossed her arms.

“Not sitting around doing nothing. I’m pregnant. Not an invalid.” 

“That’s the spirit. Donna picked up an ID and swiped it for access.”

“Now if I was an alien trying to hide, who would I be?” Rose asked with a lightness she hadn’t felt in a while. Yes it was dangerous but it was also a bit fun. This was exactly what she and the Doctor would have done. For the first time, that thought didn’t cut through her as deeply. 

Donna made short work of figuring out the database. Rose smiled as Donna puzzled through the records. “Someone who was just admitted, I’m thinking,” Donna murmured and narrowed down the patients. Rose sat nearby when she heard the thud of footsteps. 

“Down,” she whispered and yanked Donna to the floor before peering up at two black clad people marching by. “They look like the one that knocked into you outside.”

She exchanged a look with Donna as they watched the two enter a room down the hall.

“Who’s on this floor?” Rose asked. Donna smiled with confidence.

Just as they produced a list, Martha exited the stairwell out of breath. “Rose, Donna?”

“Over here.” Rose waved her over. “We think the alien is on this floor.”

“Got her,” Donna announced. “Florence Finnegan.”

Martha leaned over. “I remember her from triage downstairs. She suffered from exhaustion, dehydration and low sodium levels. What’s she doing up here though? This ward is for contagious diseases.”

Rose froze. Her chest constricted and a chill settled across her. Not a place she should have her baby. “I’ve got to get out of here.”

“No time for that!” Jack announced. “They’re on the way. We need to get you tucked away.” He panted and his face flushed. Donna was fanning herself and Rose felt herself faltering, dizzy and her chest squeezed tight.

“Oxygen,” she gasped.

“This way. I know what to do.” Martha spoke with authority and guided Rose the opposite end of the hall. 

“Jack and I will deal with Alien Annie,” Donna stated. “You armed Captain?” Jack pulled out his revolver. Rose’s temper flared but she didn’t have the time or energy to argue. She barely caught a glimpse of Donna with a stun gun. 

“If I don’t come out, get the Judoon into this room and away from Rose.” Jack’s voice echoed down the hall and Rose’s stomach dropped at the thought of putting Donna in danger.

“Here,” Martha put Rose on a bed with an oxygen tent around her. “This will give you a little more time. Hopefully enough. I’m going back to check on Jack and Donna.”

Every fiber of Rose’s being wanted to follow her but the tiny flutter in her abdomen reminded her priorities change. 

“It’s just you and me.” She patted her stomach. “And this is sort of our life or…well the running was always part of it. Not doing so much of the running for our lives right now. Not until you’re older. And hopefully when we find your daddy.” She choked up, not from lack of oxygen, but remembering ancient brown eyes and what he would say seeing their little girl in the hologram. Rose sniffed and swallowed down her tears.

“Don’t want you to think all mummy does is cry. There’s a lot in life to be happy about like you and all the fun times we’ll have. And then there’s Uncle Jack and Aunt Donna and maybe even Martha Jones out there. Your dad would have gotten a kick out of her. She’s clever and brave and not in a typical human way. That’s another thing you need to get used to. The universe is filled with all sort of amazing beings.”

Dizziness overwhelmed her and Rose curled upon her side, slowing her breathing to conserve oxygen. The building shuddered. Rose fought to stay conscious as the lights flickered and the bed trembled until the walls stilled.

Jack stumbled in the door, blood staining his neck and shirt. 

“Jack!” Her heart thudded and adrenaline took over. He nodded breathing heavy at her. 

“Don’t move.” He crawled into the hall and dragged Martha and Donna back into the room. He moved Martha to the tent and slapped her gently on the face. “Come on doc.” She looked around blurrily while Rose squeezed her hand.

“You helped save the world, Martha Jones,” Jack announced. “Want to give me a hand with Donna?”

Martha was able to increase the oxygen mix and Donna revived, annoyed but alive. Her eyes widened and then she slapped Jack.

“Don’t you ever do anything like that again!”

Rose watched in amusement as Donna chastised Jack who apparently let the alien get a good dose of Jack Harkness blood and life force which then registered as alien when Donna and Martha got the Judoons’ attention. Jack woke up to find Donna and Martha passed out, the Judoon gone and the hospital returned to Earth.

“You know, I think I’ve had my fill of hospitals,” Rose commented, interrupting the bickering. “And little bit here is hungry. How about a little we saved the world meal?”

“Sounds good to me,” Donna announced and rubbed her temples. “Captain Hawtness is buying.”

Rose looked over at Martha. “Thank you for everything.” Martha nodded.

Jack pulled a card out and handed to her. “Call me, Martha Jones. We could use someone like you.”

“Not if Sarah Jane gets to her first,” Rose added and handed Martha one of Sarah Jane’s cards. “Call us if you need anything, Dr. Jones.”

“It’s not doctor, not yet.”

“It will be,” Rose assured her. “I have a good feeling about you.”

The three walked out and gratefully took the lift down. Sarah Jane met them in the lobby now filled with UNIT troops. Jack wrapped an arm around Rose.

“Sorry I was late,” Sara Jane stated slowly, eyeing the three of them. Rose burst out in giggles.

“It was quite an appointment,” Rose mused as Sarah Jane arched an eyebrow at her. “Come on let’s go to lunch and we’ll tell you all about it along with someone you’ll be wanting to talk to,” Rose confided.

The four quickly exited, avoiding questions and walked arm in arm down the sidewalk. They had a lot to discuss, much of which focused on one Martha Jones and a certain little girl who would one day become the next Defender of the Earth.


	5. Chapter 5

The Doctor spun on a stool in his new lab, now empty since it was night and humans needed sleep.  The only lights in the lab were the fluctuating blue pulses of his Exotectric Universal Detector; the Artron Alert System; the Void Matter Radar; and his latest in-progress project, what his assistants called the Dimension Cannon.  He frowned just thinking about the name and, quite frankly, at said assistants.

The trans-dimensional travel device, aka the cannon, was constructed of primitive materials the Doctor foraged from Torchwood’s store rooms and a few online shopping binges.  Pete insisted he needed help and thus Pete presented what he considered brilliant scientists to help the Doctor.  The Doctor snorted at the thought.  To him, dealing with these allegedly gift scientists was more like managing infants. 

Yet, some had rather interesting potential and insights.  Most days, he ignored them, giving them mundane tasks to keep them busy while he did the real work.  But occasionally, and despite his resistance, he couldn’t help but notice their enthusiasm, desire to learn, and experiment with new ideas even if it contradicted accepted theories.

Dr. Malcolm Taylor was one such innovator.  A bit barmy if the Doctor admitted it, Malcom enjoyed tinkering and breaking boundaries.  Eventually, the Doctor wore down and included Malcolm on more advanced and delicate construction of the device.

Despite working non-stop and having a team of six scientists at his beck and call, the Doctor had made little progress.  Everything took too long.  Life on the slow path grated at his nerves. He slid off the stool and walked over to a panel of windows.  Rain pounded against the building, the London skyline barely visible through the downpour.  Somehow he doubted he’d find any more peace out in the city than in his own lab.

“Hey boss.”  The Doctor sighed and faced Mickey, his Torchwood assigned keeper.  “Just checking to make sure you’re still upright.”

“Why shouldn’t I be?” the Doctor snapped and walked over to a counter and poked at a circuit board.  “And no I’m not responsible for the rain.”

“Wasn’t blaming you.”  Mickey wandered in and arched his eye at the massive device that took up half the lab: the Dimension Cannon.  “That thing gonna work?”

“No, I enjoy wasting my time on pointless devices that could blow up half off of London.”  The Doctor raked a hand through his hair and squinted at the circuit board before fumbling for his glasses.

“Thought that’d be your answer.”  Mickey leaned next to him.  “You’ve been cooped up in this lab for weeks wound tighter than the suspension on Pete’s Mercedes Roadster.

“Been a bit busy.”  He lifted his head.  “Pete’s got a Roadster?”  A few running away ideas quickly flashed in his mind. 

“Don’t even think of it.  It’s his baby and no one’s allowed near it.  Besides, you’d have to go back to the mansion for that and Jackie might rope you into nappy duty.”

Normally he would wince and shudder.  But nappy duty took on new meaning when Rose announced her pregnancy.  His hearts ached at the thought of her facing it alone.  Not that she was alone.  She had Jack and Sarah Jane but it wasn’t the same.  He tried not to fall down the chasm of grief that left him half mad and reckless.

“I’m sorry, Doctor.”  Mickey squeezed his shoulder. 

“Thank you.”  The words stuck in his throat but he was getting better at saying them.  He learned the hard way from Jackie when he was having a snit one morning, pacing, ranting and exploding her microwave.  She’d grabbed him by the ear and sat him down for tea and a lesson in humility and gratitude. 

The woman was truly frightening and especially pregnant.  It was the one thing that eased his conscious about Rose.  If Rose was like her mother the universe better back off cause she’d rip it apart if it dared piss her off.  On the other hand, Jackie also provided sympathy, banana muffins and delivered lunch to him to make sure he kept on his feet; and fit enough to find her daughter.

“Shouldn’t you be off at the pub or home watching telly like every other human?”

“Matter of fact I should.  It’s not like I enjoy Time Lord babysitting duty.”  The Doctor snorted and eyed him but Mickey grinned enjoying poking at his ego.  It was all good natured and the Doctor appreciated it. 

“I got a report I want you take a look at.”  Mickey shoved a tablet at him. 

“My involvement with Torchwood is limited to my project. I’m not at your beck and call.”  He’d accepted their assistance only because Pete gave him no other option and he grudgingly had to admit, they weren’t as bad as their counterpart in the Prime Universe.

“Just look,” Mickey insisted.  The Doctor sighed and accepted the tablet.

“Not possible.  My monitors would be‑”  Alarms blared and lights flashed.  The Doctor raced over to each piece of equipment with his sonic and began taking readings.

“This Good news then?  As in you got a lead on getting back? Or is it more the universe is about to blow up?”

“Good and bad, not blowing up yet…probably,” the Doctor answered distractedly.  He walked over to a lap top and pointed the sonic at it.  “Narrowing this down a bit.  Leadworth.”  He tapped the sonic on his temple.

“Is that a good idea?”  Mickey took a step back eyeing said sonic.

The Doctor stopped and looked back at the monitor.  “Wales not far from Gloucester.  We need to go now.”

“It’s eight o’clock on Friday night,” Mickey reminded him.

“And your point is?  I mean this is Torchwood. I’m told it’s your job to investigate possible alien incursions, unexplained phenomena and threats to the planet.  I’d say a tsunami of energy flooding across the planet from a possible fracture in the fabric of space and time might be worth interrupting someone’s pub night.”

“I’ll call Jake and Pete.  Get whatever you need together and meet us down in the garage in half an hour.”  Mickey backed toward the door.

“And Doctor.”

“That’s me.”  The Doctor waved his sonic in the air still glancing at the monitor.

“I’m glad you’re here.”  The Doctor stilled and nodded his head as Mickey left.   The sentiment of the statement struck a wounded part of him that felt out of place in this world.  Lost and without his TARDIS, the Doctor suffered a dizzying disorientation in a universe that worked slightly off kilter to his own. 

Torchwood wasn’t like his days at UNIT.  They still carried guns but Pete kept everyone grounded, working as a team and managed the organization with a hands on style.

But the Doctor was still an outsider; mainly because he held himself apart.  He didn’t socialize with the Torchwood teams and was often walking around in a Time Lord snit over inefficiency and primitive conditions.  It was bloody humble to be stranded and confined as he was.  It wasn’t like this was his first confinement on Earth.  Just not this Earth.

He grabbed equipment and shoved everything into a backpack which he slung over his shoulder.  He grimaced as something gouged his back.  “Should have made this dimensionally transcendental.”  Grumbling to himself was his newest quirk. He paused in the now silent lab.  This was his life.  His shoulders slumped.  Boring.  Stuck on the slow path…without Rose. 

The walls of the lab seemed to warp and cave inwards.  His breath came in gasps as the silence and ever present voices of his past taunted him.  Worse, another darker voice oozed around him seductively.   _ You’re a Time Lord, the last one.  Who’s there to stop you?  There’s no one left to condemn you.  You can do anything _ .

“No.”  He clutched at his head, fingers digging into his hair.  His mobile rang with a sweeping, seductive melody he’d composed late one night and named: An Ode to Hope.  He pressed it to his ear if for no other reason than to banish dark thoughts.

“I’m sending you, Micks and Jake to Leadworth.”  A baby wailed in the background.  The Doctor swallowed hard.  “Sorry, Tony’s still not going down easy.”  There was a softness to Pete’s voice that the Doctor recognized: happiness.  His throat ached for his own happiness a universe away.

“You should try sonic vibrations, low frequency.  I’ll…I’ll send something over after we get back.”

“Yeah?  Must be why the car seems to help.”   _ Give me that phone!   _ The Doctor winced at the tone in Jackie’s voice and a louder baby screech.

“Now see here, I know you’re busting your arse working hard to find Rose but you haven’t been by in weeks.  I don’t’ care if you are alien, it’s not healthy.” 

“Jackie, I don’t--”

“Stop it!  Rose may not be here to tell her alien boyfriend what for but I am.  You will be here for tea tomorrow night.  No excuses!”

“Jackie, there’s a crack in the fabric of space and time and--” The Doctor refused to admit he might have whinged just a bit.

“Oh please!  You’re the brilliant Time Lord. Just fix it already and then come to tea.  Don’t make me pack Tony up and come after you!”

There was some muttering and Pete came back on the phone.  “Ah yes.”  He cleared his throat. “I’ll be seeing you for tea after you sort out whatever’s going on in Leadworth.   Keep me informed and try not to explode anything.”

After Pete rang off, the Doctor stared at his phone and exhaled a puff of air.  “Right.”

#

Three and a half hours later with a grumbling Jake at the wheel, they pulled into the town of Leadworth.  Mickey’s jaw cracking yawn punctuated the late hour. 

The Doctor peered out the window pondering the information about this tiny little town.  Founded in the twelve hundreds, nothing stood out except a rash of disappearances in the last ten years.  All appeared to be explained as: stolen cattle, runaways, drunken villagers wandering off; or people who just didn’t want to be found.  No one appeared concerned or wanted an investigation. 

“Looks quiet enough.”  Jake drove them past a stone church, pub, various shops, a city hall and an obelisk monument in the town square. Everything was quiet and shut down for the night.

The Doctor lowered the window and stuck his head out sniffing the damp, chilled air, his skin prickling at a subtle flare of temporal energy.

“Head west maybe one kilometer and then southish.”  He looked up at the sky. The clouds broke as not quite right stars blinked down at him.

“How the hell do you know that from…”  Jake shook his head.  “You can be so bloody alien sometimes.” Jake turned the SUV in the requested direction while Mickey smiled next to him.

“You don’t say?” the Doctor responded dryly before pulling his sonic out and aiming it out the window.  He enjoyed how Mickey suddenly straightened in the front seat, peering out into the night as the Doctor pulsed his sonic.   _ Yep, still go it _ , he thought with a lightness he’d not enjoyed since he arrived in Pete’s World.

A quick scan confirmed his senses and his hearts pumped with excitement.  He was right on point.  Alien mischief was afoot and not his alien mischief.

“Stop!”  The Doctor shouted. Jake hit the brakes squealing to a stop. 

“What?” Jake demanded.

The Doctor slipped from the car, walked in front of the SUV and held his palm out.

“Ohhhh aren’t you beautiful.”  Mickey and Jake appeared at his side, glancing around, hands on their weapons.  The Doctor ignored that part, for the first time feeling in control and in his element.  “Look at this, the hairs on my hand are standing up.  You know what that means?”

“Something alien or dangerous?”  Jake tensed.  “Can’t ever be something nice in the middle of the night in the back of beyond.”  He grimaced and shined his torch around where the headlights didn’t illuminate.  “Wait what’s that?”  Jake pointed his torch at a fox, its eyes glowing in the light except it was frozen, unmoving.

“Very good Jakey!  There’s hope for you yet!”  The Doctor bounced on the balls of his feet, his fingers tingling with a sense of the unknown.  He focused on the fox and aimed the sonic.

“Ha!  Time dilation.”

“What’s that?  And is it gonna hurt us or toss us through time?” Mickey stepped back a few steps.  Jake, jumped back with him, eyes darting around.

“Not bad, Mr. Mickey!”  The Doctor had to admit.  Finally, he had people using their brains.

“It’s a bending of space-time.  To us that fox isn’t moving and to her we aren’t moving.  Two points, two observers, slight temporal hiccup.”

“Why here?  What’s causing it and could it affect the whole town?” Mickey asked.

“Why here is the question,” the Doctor murmured.  “And I think we’ll find it’s been affecting the whole town for a while.”  The Doctor snapped his fingers and the fox scampered away from them.  “Easy Peasy.”

“You fixed it with…oh why am I even asking?” Jake snorted.  “Let’s find the source and fix it before the locals get out of sorts.”

“Well, I didn’t exactly fix it,” the Doctor explained as they climbed back into the SUV.  “More like tweaked the timelines and sent an old fashioned Time Lord thump across the time dilation.” 

He propped his trainers up between the front seats, chuffed at being able to do something more than suffer or pull his hair out over impossible inter universal travel. 

“Drive on, Jake!”  He pulled a celebratory banana out of his pocket and began eating.

“Alien nutter,” Jake muttered.  They continued driving slowly down country roads for another hour with the Doctor giving meandering directions. 

“We’re going in circles,” Jake complained.

“You sure about this, Doctor?” Mickey cast a questioning look at him.

“Yep!”  The Doctor grinned and flashed his sonic once pointing upwards.  “Turn left.”

Jake grumbled but followed the Doctor’s directions until they pulled in front of a two story house not far from town.  The closest neighbor was a few blocks away hidden by trees.

“Here,” the Doctor announced softly and climbed out of the SUV. 

Mickey and Jake again followed although, the Doctor noted, with more caution.  And perhaps they should.  Something in the air smelled stale.  To humans it might feel like a prickle on the back of their neck, that odd feeling like someone was watching you but no one was there.  To the Doctor it grated against his time sense and poked and probed around like a river looking for low land to flood.

A squeaking sound, like a rusty metal hinge opening caught his attention. 

“Doctor?”  He ignored Mickey and walked cautiously around the side of the house, pushing his way through bushes until the stone and wooden cottage rose up in front of him. Its dark windows eyed him like a malevolent species.

The Doctor’s focus was on a young ginger haired girl on a swing.  She was maybe ten or eleven, wearing a green dressing gown, feet bare, rocking back and forth.

“Hello there.”  His tone softened as he met the girl’s greenish blue eyed gaze.  She didn’t show any evidence of surprise.

“Are you a policeman?”

“Oh you’re Scottish!”  The Doctor smiled and knelt near her swing.  “Not a policeman. Why? Do you need one?  Is this your house?”

“Did you come about the crack in my wall?” she asked and stilled the swing, fingers curled around the chains and appeared bored by her own question.

“A crack in your wall?” the Doctor drew his words out, watching the girl as closely as she watched him.

“Doctor, don’t oh hello.”  Mickey pushed his way through the bushes.  Jake peeked around him.

“What’s your name?” The Doctor asked, still glancing at the house and puzzling out why this child seemed so calm facing strangers in her backyard in the middle of the night.

“I’m not supposed to talk to strangers.”  She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him, long ginger hair framing her face in the dim moonlight. 

A bubble of amusement and a good dose of curiosity burst forth.  No accident he was here.  And if the crack in the wall comment didn’t capture his attention, how the timelines knotted around this little girl left him itching to investigate.

“I’m the Doctor.”  He held out his hand.

“Amelia Pond.”  She didn’t move and eyed Mickey and Jake.  “If you’re not the police, are you thieves?  If you are, you’ve come to the wrong house unless you want to disappear or get eaten.”

“Eaten?” Jake repeated widening his eyes and staring at the house.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves and mind your weapons,” the Doctor warned with a glare before turning back to Amelia and softening his face.

“Amelia Pond.”  He popped the p and smiled.  “Nice to meet you and you know what, I’d love to see this crack that wants to eat us.”

“Why?  No one else believes me? Are you sure you’re not robbers?”

“Positive.”  The Doctor stood and held out his hand.

“Doctor, are you sure about this?”  Mickey eyed Amelia who squinted at him.  “You know what happens in horror films when creepy little kids invite you back to their house.”  Mickey’s hands nervously opened and closed as he stared at the house in the waning moonlight.  The Doctor rolled his eyes before facing Mickey and Jake.

“One, Amelia is not a creepy anything.  B the house isn’t haunted.  There’s no such things as ghosts and four no three, it’s fun.”  He winked at Mickey before walking with Amelia toward the house.  A soft curse was muttered by Jake before the two followed them.

Amelia opened the door and the Doctor stood in the doorway of a dimly lit kitchen.  “Are your parents about?  Wouldn’t want to startle them.”

“They’re gone.”  Amelia answered releasing his hand and walking over to a small round table grabbing a biscuit off a plate.  “No one remembers them.  I live with my Aunt but she’s not here.”

“I see.”  The Doctor stepped around reached for a biscuit.  Amelia slapped his hand.

“You’re supposed to ask and say please.”  Towering over the irate girl, a grin emerged.  Bravery shined in her eyes almost like‑  No.  He couldn’t think of Rose now even though everything about this trip seemed to remind him of her.  Maybe that was the point.

“Everyone knows that,” Mickey added with a smirk.  The Doctor rolled his eyes and sighed.

“May I please have a…he leaned over and sniffed.  “chocolate chip biscuit?”  She nodded her head and he bit into the chewy treat and hummed.

“Thank you.  Did you make these?”

“Of course.”  She marched further into the house, the Doctor and his companions trailing her.  They stopped in a small living room cramped with sofas and tables.  He barely swallowed his biscuit when a snap and crackle of energy cascaded down the stairs.

“Amelia, I think you should wait here.”  She solemnly stared up the stairs and nodded backing away to the sofa and climbing over the arm to lean her elbows on the back.

“It’s not happy tonight.”

“Happy?”  Jake asked.  “How do you know?”

“Sometimes it talks, whispers gives me nightmares.”  She turned to him and jutted her pert bottom lip out.  “And I’m not mad!”

“Of course you’re not,” the Doctor insisted, annoyance tightening his shoulders at how he was beginning to see the human world might treat a little girl sensitive to a universal or temporal rift.  He remembered Gwyneth in Cardiff, how living on the rift changed her; and how he and Rose hadn’t been able to save her.  He would save Amelia Pond.  That was a fact.

“Stay behind me,” he ordered Mickey and Jake.  He activated his sonic and climbed the stairs following the pulse of temporal energy until he reached a darkened room, the door opened part way.

“Are you sure about this?” Mickey asked.  “I can call for back up and quarantine the house.”

“No,” the Doctor answered in a tight voice.  “We’re sorting this tonight.”  He pushed the door open and stared at a meter long, jagged, horizontal crack next to young Amelia’s bed dressed with a pink print comforter stuffed animals sitting haphazard on top.

“You don’t belong here and especially not in a child’s room.”  The Doctor aimed the sonic at it and watched the reading before pocketing it.

“I don’t see anything,” Mickey commented.

“No, you wouldn’t.  It’s beyond your perception.”

“How come the kid can see it?” Jake asked, sidling around to the opposite side of the room.

“Because children have an uninhibited perception when they’re young.  It’s the imaginary friends no one else can see.  The make believe games that are often more than pretend.  They’re aware Jake, until it’s pounded out of them and they mature to live in the human social construct you call the real world.  You grow up and you lose the ability to see beyond what your rational mind thinks is possible.” 

The Doctor slid across the bed by the wall and poked a finger at the jagged crack.

“Maybe you shouldn’t do that,” Mickey warned.  “I don’t like this.  That little girl was odd, too calm and talked about it eating people.  And it set off all your alarms back in London.”

“Oh there’s some cowboys been here.”  The Doctor yanked his finger away and sucked it before he pulled out his glasses and knocked around the wall.  “It isn’t just in the wall.  You tear this wall down and the crack’s still there.”

“How do we close it?” Mickey sat on the edge of the bed near the Doctor and rubbed his eyes.  The Doctor turned and knocked Mickey on the forehead.

“Oi!”

“Just checking,” he said, his voice pitching up. “Something bother you about looking at it?”

“I don’t know.”  Mickey cocked his head and squinted.  “It’s like I thought I saw something but it’s gone.”

“What did you see?” Jake asked, a nervous tremor in his voice.

“A streak of light and I thought I heard‑”  He shook his head.

“What?” the Doctor demanded.  “A rumbling and a screeching like‑”  He swallowed hard and his face hardened before he scrambled off the bed, Hand on his gun.  “Like a Dalek.”

The Doctor clenched his jaw and a cold rage flushed through him.  He peered beyond the jagged edges before pulling out his sonic and thrusting it in like a spear.

“Don’t,” Mickey warned as Jake pulled out his pulse rifle and aimed it at the wall. 

“Get out of the way,” Jake commanded.

A vibration traveled up the Doctor’s arm, sizzling against his nerves until he pulled the sonic out.   _ Exterminate. _  He heard it clearly followed by screams, explosive concussive sounds and what he thought was Jack and Rose’s voice talking about Judoon, invasions,  _ she’s beautiful _ and  _ Doctor _ .  He slid off the bed and stood, emotions contained in a cold and calculated need to heal a wound that should not exist.

“I’m calling this in,” Mickey reached for his phone.

“No,” the Doctor countered in a sharp voice.  “I’ll deal with this now.  We can’t wait.  It’s already affected Amelia and possibly others given the disappearances in the area.  Jake, I need your pulse rifle.”  Jake hesitated but tossed it to him.  The Doctor aimed his sonic at the gun and began disassembling it.

“Mickey you and Jake get yourselves and Amelia outside. 

“I can’t leave you, Boss.”

The Doctor directed a dark and powerful gaze at Mickey until he stepped back.  “It’s not safe for you.  This isn’t like the Cardiff rift in our universe.  Two parts of space and time that should never have touched are now squeezing together.”

“Like a fault when to two tectonic plates grinding against one another,” Mickey answered.

“Yes only when this fault slips, the explosive energy released shakes the entire universe possible fracturing it until‑” The Doctor eyed the crack.  “You really don’t want to be around to find out.”  

“Was this because of Torchwood?” Mickey asked quietly.

The Doctor’s jaw clenched.  “Partly,” he answered in a clipped voice.  “It took more than deteriorating universal walls to do this, a massive form of energy that simply does not exist without…someone‑”  He trailed off his mind working through the possibilities. 

Did he go mad in the future and do this?  No.  He wouldn’t.  Even in his darkest thoughts he wouldn’t risk destroying a universe with people he’d come to—Just No.  His moral compass was a universe away and getting back to her at the risk of billions much less her own mother’s life…he’d destroy himself first rather than hurt  _ her _ .  And then his stomach turned to ice.  The Time War.  The ramifications of those battles shook time itself, even in parallel worlds.

“Do what you need.  Just, if you can manage it--”  Mickey smiled.  “Try to not blow up the planet or the house.  The paperwork would be mind numbing.”  He backed out of the room saluting.

A smile fought its way across the Doctor’s face.  He needed that tiny bit of humor.  Now he had work to do.  Using the tetra matrix coherence crystal from Jake’s gun and a few other alien hybrid parts which humans should not have, he cobbled together his own version of a space time inversion device.  He glanced back at the crack.  It grew and the light intensified.

He listened to voices and explosions.  A guttural cackling raised the hairs on his arms.  “Of course.  Even after losing Gallifrey, the TARDIS and Rose, the War still haunts me,” he murmured.  Guilt and pain crawled across his skin like frost.  He had to close this.  Too much was leaking through and not just from this universe.  And that was the rub as an insidious thought wondered: what if…

Logically he knew it was not a portal to his prime universe.  But temptation and yearning stilled him.  He’d always been reckless, willing to push boundaries and thrust himself into the dark scary pit on an impossible planet.  He released a breath he’d held. 

“You want that don’t you?”  He peered into the light, flickering and taunting him.  “What or who did you swallow?”  His eyes widened. “Oh something is in there, something trying to find its way out using a little girl as your compass.”  The Doctor picked up his new cobbled together device and aimed it at the crack.

“Normally I would try and save you, whoever you are.  But you terrified a little girl and stole her family.  And now you’re trying to manipulate me with echoes from another universe.  I used to have so much mercy.  He activated the device, the crystal glowing orange.  “I’m not that many anymore.  Not without  _ her _ .”

The room filled with an intense orange and yellow light.  The house shook and energy raced across the Doctor’s skin like the fires of regeneration.  He would not regenerate.  Not until he found Rose.  He pressed the sonic to the crystal and increased the power shutting his eyes against the intensity of the implosion as space time warped and snapped back into place.  A sonic boom sounded, the concussion thrusting him across the room until he smacked into the door.

“Ouch.”  He rubbed at his head, his clothes smoking but intact.  Good thing he wore his standard suit instead of one of the suits Jackie bought him.  “Trilkova fabric.”   He patted his sleeve before standing up to brush himself off.  After a quick inspection, he nodded his head and marched down the stairs, grabbing a biscuit on the way out of the house.

“This house is clean,” he announced around a bite full of biscuit.  “You might want to have Pete quarantine the site just in case something tries to punch a hole through.”

“Something?” Jake eyed the house.

“And the house is still standing!”  Mickey high fived the Doctor after the Doctor handed the modified and destroyed pulse rifle back to a perturbed Jake.

Amelia stared up at the house, its windows shattered in the blast.  “You all right?” The Doctor asked.

“You blew up my house.”

“Ohhh technically I didn’t blow it up.  I imploded a rather nasty crack in space time.  The building’s still standing.  Not much damage.  Well a bit singed in a few places but nothing a bucket of paint couldn’t fix.”

She frowned and crossed her arms.  “My room’s a mess isn’t it?”

“At least there’s no scary crack or voices trying to scare you.  Not that I think they did.  You’re very brave, Amelia Pond.”  She stared at the house as if she didn’t believe him. 

“You’ve had adults promising you things you’re whole life and it’s hard to accept anything I tell you, isn’t it?”

“My parents were supposed to take care of me.  So was my Aunt and they’re gone.”  The Doctor watched her fight back tears and every fiber of his being screamed one thing.

“How would you like to see London?”

“Doctor, we can’t.  She’s got a guardian somewhere,” Mickey insisted.  The Doctor stood and faced Mickey.  “Her Aunt’s not coming back.”

“You don’t know that.”  Mickey looked down at Amelia who’s head tilted to the side watching them, almost assessing them as if she was passing judgement.

“I think he does,” Jake added.  “We can’t leave her here by herself and especially not if the alien gateway to hell might reopen.”

“Come on Amelia!” the Doctor called out his voice lighter and full of life.  “Let’s get your things together and off we go on an adventure!”  She stared up at the sky and frowned.

“What’s wrong?”  The Doctor looked up.

“The stars…they’re going out.”

A shiver coursed up his spine.  He took off his glasses and stared up into the night sky, the moon already sinking toward the horizon. 

“There.”  She pointed up and the Doctor focused on the sky that often irritated him with how different it was.  Things weren’t where they were in his universe.  The Moraklok cluster wasn’t in the same galactic coordinates.  And now it wasn’t even in the wrong place.

“It’s not over is it?” Mickey asked staring skyward.

“This is something else,” the Doctor said softly itching to get to an observatory.  He glanced down at Amelia.  “Brave and observant.  You’ve spent more than one night outside staring at the stars haven’t you.” She shrugged.

“I’ll get a team on this,”  Mickey pulled out his mobile.

“You’re not driving are you?” Amelia asked the Doctor.

“Why Amelia, I’ll have you know I’m a superb driver, spectacular even.”  She looked back at Mickey.

“I want one of them to drive.  They don’t look like they explode things and act like it’s normal.”

“The kids got good sense,” Mickey acknowledged.  “We take her to Torchwood and figure things out from there.”  He looked back at his mobile.  “Pete, we have a new problem.”

“What’s Torchwood?” Amelia asked as Mickey and Jake walked back to the car and the Doctor wrapped her hand in his.

“Oh you know, dodgy governmental agency with potentially world dominating agenda but they’re all right as long as you and me are round.”  He winked as she rolled her eyes.

But before he walked into the house, he glanced back up at the sky.  There was more than one vacant spot where stars should be.  Something was very wrong.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rose's pregnancy progresses; Martha meets the TARDIS and an adventure.

Rose set out tea in the library nervously biting her thumb nail. A flutter followed by a pressure in her abdomen distracted her. She patted her now much larger baby bump.

“Easy there, sweetheart. I know you’re excited as I am for company.” Rose eyed the toffee biscuits and quickly wiped her mouth in case she was drooling. Although nausea was sporadic now, cravings were insane. And cravings probably affected the smorgasbord of food she laid out on the table. In addition to toffee biscuits, she’d bought or made sausage rolls, pasta salad, chocolate banana muffins, pasties, curried chicken and an ice cream cake Jack contributed even if he wasn’t there to enjoy it. 

Rose felt a prominent thump as she thought about the ice cream cake. “Daddy’s girl aren’t you. He always loved ice cream.” Tears wet her eyes and she sniffed. “God, I just can’t seem to go two weeks without crying,” she announced to the TARDIS. Three sharp knocks echoed and excitement bubbled up as she ran down the corridor to throw the door open.

“Sarah Jane!” She pulled her friend in for a big hug and looked past her at Martha Jones.

“Martha, come in!” The other woman stood, nervously toying with the zipper on her dark red leather coat. 

“It’s all right, Martha,” Sarah Jane encouraged. Martha looked around the plass before she slowly stepped in.

“Whoa,” she breathed out as the door clicked shut behind her.

“It’s…bigger on the inside.” Both Rose and Sarah Janes burst into giggles.

“I always loved that part,” Sarah Jane confided, her eyes twinkling.

“Me too,” Rose admitted tugging on her loose fitting blue floral top. “So did the Doctor.” Her smile faded as she gazed back at the time rotor. Sarah Jane squeezed her shoulder and Rose faced Martha. 

“Welcome to the TARDIS, Martha. Why don’t you follow me in for a quick basic tour.”

“It’s enormous and alien.” Martha spun in a circle taking in the tall domed ceiling. “And why can’t anyone see this? I mean it’s a blue box on the Plass?”

“It’s a disguise,” Rose confided thinking back to her first Doctor and how proud he was telling her about his beloved blue box.

“The Doctor has been around a long time. This design is from 1963.” Sarah Jane trailed her fingers along the edge of the console. “I told you I traveled with the Doctor in my youth when he was a different man. But the adventures, the thrill of exploration was no less exciting. This ship was just as much a dear friend then.”

Rose gave Martha a whirlwind tour of the console room, the galley, the pool room, the recreational room, the med bay which Martha ohhhed and awed over the dermal regenerator and other medical tech; and finally ended in the library.

“Are you all right, Martha?” Sarah Jane asked sitting at the table and scooping up pasta salad onto her plate.

“I really don’t know,” Martha confessed staring at the second floor of the library. “You told me it would be like this but I don’t think I believed you.”

“It takes a little getting used to,” Rose confessed trying not to wolf down a banana muffin but failing. Her face reddened. “But the TARDIS is home.” She reached for sausage roll. “Sorry, been ravenous lately.”

“You look healthy and like your pregnancy is progressing,” Sarah Jane noted. “How are you feeling?”

“Other than starving and tired?” Rose licked her fingers. “Fine I guess. I stay busy with school and studying more about this whole multi verse thing.” Rose waved her hand in the air. “And I go out with Jack and Torchwood sometimes although I think the Torchwood team are getting suspicious. I mean it’s pretty clear loose clothes aren’t hiding little bit here.” Rose rubbed her baby bump and received a responding thump.

“Oh that was a good one.” She winced. “Maybe no sausage rolls then. She put it down and eyed the curry.

“So no one knows except--” Martha stumbled over her words and furrowed her brow.

“Donna, Jack and I,” Sarah Jane answered. “And now you.”

“Why me?” Martha asked, leaning forward, watching Rose. “I mean I don’t understand why you trust me?”

“Anyone who doesn’t run screaming from aliens and helps save the world deserves respect and some trust,” Rose answered, leaning her elbows on the table. “Besides, my instincts say you’re someone special, important not just for me and the baby but Earth. I like you, Martha Jones.” 

“I don’t know why,” Martha looked down and twisted her napkin. “I mean the whole Moon thing was mad.” She raised her head and met Rose’s gaze. “And no one is talking about it. It’s like it didn’t happen. How can no one…talk about it?”

“Because humans aren’t ready,” Sarah Jane supplied. “Most would have panicked, or fainted or gotten themselves and everyone else killed.”

“But you didn’t,” Rose added. “And trust me a lot them were doing just that. You kept your head and asked the right questions. As the Doctor would say, you’re brilliant.” Rose shoved her curry around, her appetite fleeing as she wondered where the Doctor was and what he was doing. He would have liked Martha, she was sure of it.

“And that’s why UNIT hired you.” Sarah Jane smiled around her mug of tea. “They know what it takes to keep this world safe and it’s people like you who aren’t afraid to face the impossible.”

“Yeah, they’ve been great helping me with my studies and preparing for my boards,” Martha admitted. “And I’ve enjoyed my intern work with them. It’s ten times better than Royal Hope and more interesting.”

“We knew you’d do well.” Sarah Jane set her tea down and sat back. “I understand from Kate Stewart, they’re setting you up in xenobiology and you’ve already assisted on several matters. It’s why Rose and I wanted to talk to you.”

“I don’t understand? Why me? If you’ve got a sick alien, why not just call UNIT or Captain Harkness at Torchwood?”

“Because I don’t trust them.” Rose sat forward and pinned Martha with what she hoped was a serious gaze. “They do a lot of good for the Earth but that’s the point. Earth comes first and anything alien is suspicious or contained or to be frank, killed. Torchwood had a motto--” Rose clenched her fists, anger still fresh. Over ten months had passed but Rose would never forget what Torchwood had done to her life. What they stole.

“If it’s alien it’s ours.” Martha looked away. Rose couldn’t keep the rage out of her voice and maybe she channeled a bit of the Oncoming Storm. 

“And Captain Harkness has assured us that is no long the case.” Sarah Jane, ever the diplomat, attempted to intervene and eyed Rose with a warning look.

“Yes, Jack’s been trying to do the right thing,” Rose agreed and slumped back in her chair and flicked crumbs off the table. “But Torchwood’s been around a long time and sometimes ideas and policies take time to change which means it’s still not safe for any non-Earth people.”

“My cousin worked at Canary Wharf,” Martha confided in a quiet voice. “She died. I found the UNIT records. It was the Cybermen. And to be honest, all I’ve seen of aliens is how they attack and kill us. UNIT and Torchwood are stopping them.”

“Other than the Doctor,” Sarah Jane added and leaned closer to Martha. “I know you’ve heard about him at UNIT. Anyone with your security clearance would.”

“Wait.” Martha held up her palm. “UNIT’s Doctor is Rose’s Doctor and your Doctor?”

“Yeah, he is.” Rose stood and began pacing. “The Doctor is the alien that’s saved Earth over and over again. He’s helped UNIT as well for far longer than you or I have been alive. He’s a Defender of the Earth and always tried to do that without the whole shoot first, shoot again and then ask questions method UNIT and Torchwood use. He may be an alien but he’s the best man I know.”

“He’s a legend at UNIT,” Martha said in a hushed tone before her eyes widened. “Wait, oh my god Torchwood had a mandate to--” Martha covered her mouth and gasped. “Canary Wharf. He was there and stopped them.”

Rose nodded and wrapped her arms around herself as she stared across the library, taking in all the books, charts, antique lamps and furniture mixed with parts and bits of various tech the Doctor never finished.

“I’m sorry.” Martha stood and walked over to Rose. “I’m so sorry.” Rose watched as Martha’s gaze drifted to her abdomen and her eyes widened again. 

Rose rested a hand over her bump. “Yeah, it’s what you think. He’s the dad and now he’s stuck in a parallel world. We saved the Earth but at a cost and now here’s me, missing him and up the duff with an alien baby I haven’t a clue how to care for. All I know is I have to protect her and I’ll do anything to keep her safe.”

Sarah Jane rose and walked over to them. “We were hoping you’d help.”

“Me?” Martha breathed out the word and nervously rubbed her hands on her jeans. “I mean I don’t know. I’ve assisted in a delivery but this is so out of my expertise.”

“It’s out of everyone’s expertise, Martha.” Rose grasped her hands. “I can’t trust UNIT or Torchwood but I think I can trust you if you’re willing to help.”

“It would provide experience no one on Earth has,” Sarah Jane commented. “And you would have access to the TARDIS med bay, get to study about advanced technology here that no one else has access to.”

“But I don’t want UNIT involved.” Rose emphasized. “I’m afraid of what they’d do. I won’t even let Jack’s Torchwood physician near me. Course he’s a wanker.” Rose couldn’t help the frown and shudder. “But Jack would be here to help and Donna. We wouldn’t be doing this without help. I just want a physician like you, someone who’s not afraid and will be with me to face it head on. And someone the TARDIS seems to like.”

“You mean the ship?” Martha gazed upward. “She likes me? I mean she’s sentient?”

“Yep!” Rose popped her p reminiscent of the Doctor. She found she emulated many of his habits of late. 

“How do you know? Does she talk?” Martha asked and Rose could see it then. Curiosity sparkled in her eyes and an odd sensation of rightness settled over her like Rose could breathe a sigh of relief.

“Not talk, more like sensations; sometimes flashing lights or her hum changes. We’re a bit telepathically connected somehow. I’m not sure how and I’m still figuring it out. It’s hard without the Doctor.” Rose looked down at the floor and a warm affection wrapped around her like the TARDIS heard her and Rose believed she did.

“I need to think about it. This is important and you need the right person.” 

“Agreed,” Sarah Jane patted Martha on the back. “You’ll need to consider what to tell UNIT when you come to Cardiff and quite frankly they probably already know. They keep an eye on things here and not just the TARDIS or Rose but Torchwood as well. You’ll be debriefed.”

“That won’t be fun.” Martha collapsed back onto her chair.

“You’ll be fine. You’ve been on the TARDIS now and are associated with the Doctor even if vicariously through Rose and I. That means something to UNIT. It’s an elite club so to speak. And if they give you any trouble, ring me and I’ll smooth things over. I’ve given them enough tips lately, I still have some pull.”

“Thank you, Martha.” Rose couldn’t imbibe her words with more gratitude. “Now that business over, let’s eat up. Little bit is hungry.” Rose grinned and reached for a biscuit.

“No name yet?” Sarah Jane asked, freshening everyone’s tea.

“I was hoping the Doctor would make it back before she makes her appearance.” Rose’s phone vibrated.

“It’s Donna.” She answered her mobile to her ginger friend shouting in excitement.

“Wait, Donna did you say haunted house? Let me put you on speaker so Sarah Jane and Martha can hear.” Rose set her phone down and glanced at Martha who bit her lip nervously but seemed to have a spark in her eyes. Sarah Jane sat back drinking tea calmly.

“I bloody well did say haunted house! Caliburn House in South Oxford.”

“How’d you find it?” Rose asked, shoving another toffee biscuit in her mouth.

“One of my employees was making deliveries out here when the weather got all dark and stormy. And when she walked up to the door it opened all by itself with a ghost reaching out and moaning. She got scared, threw the package in and quit her job on the spot. Weird thing is, no one had any record of the package.” Rose’s heart pounded and she couldn’t contain her grin. She’d been so bored lately and this sounded promising.

“That’s how all the horror movies start.” Martha shook her head.

“Wait,” Rose said with a mouthful of biscuit. You said here? Are you at the house?”

“Of course I am! Have to protect my employee don’t I.”

“Perhaps I should consult with Mr. Smith to see if there’s any unusual activity in the area?” Sarah Jane pulled out her mobile and texted a message.

“Sorry I missed lunch today. Is Martha there?” Donna asked.

“Yep!” Rose answered. She exchanged an excited look with Martha. “Donna, don’t go in until Sarah Jane gets the scoop on the location. We’re on our way.”

“On your way where?” Jack asked, sweeping into the room. “Don’t mind me crashing lunch.” He grabbed a biscuit. “Martha Jones! My favorite human doctor and the woman who broke my heart. UNIT huh?” 

Rose rolled her eyes as Martha flushed and flashed a flirtatious flutter of her eyelashes at Jack.

“They made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

“But you didn’t even give me a shot. Bet I could promise you things they wouldn’t even dream of,” Jack said in a purring voice.

“Oh stop it Captain Hawtness!” Donna shouted over the speaker. “We’ve got more important things than your bloated ego.”

“Captain Harkness,” Sarah Jane acknowledged. “Mr. Smith has sent me some background information on Donna’s haunted house and I believe it bears further examination.”

“Haunted house?” Jack repeated around a bite of biscuit.

“When can you be here?” Donna demanded.

“In a jiff with Jack’s help.” Rose stood and looked at Jack expectantly.

“Oh no.” He held his palms up. “No, no and no. You are in no condition to be running arse over kettle into some possible alien or residual temporal energy. No, Rose.”

“Jaaacckkkk,” She drew out his name and tilted her head. “We could take the TARDIS. I’ll be safe on board.”

“Rose, we still don’t understand how your pregnancy is progressing. And I promised to look after both you and the little time princess.”

“Please Jack, I need a break and this is perfect. I promise I’ll stay in the TARDIS and be like the control person. If anything goes wrong, I can call Gwen to come rescue you.” Rose turned a pleading look to Sarah Jane who tapped her fingers on the table.

“She does have a point and we would get there much faster. Given we don’t know what this is, that might be prudent.”

“Of course it’s prudent!” Donna insisted and sighed. “Look just work it out and get here before nightfall. I don’t care if the world is in danger, I’m not marching into a haunted house at night. Martha tell them about the horror movies.”

Martha stopped crunching down on a biscuit as all eyes turned to her and Rose stifled a giggle. This was so them. Again, she felt a pang of melancholy thinking about the Doctor and how excited he would be.

“Donna’s right. You don’t want to go there at night. And Rose should be fine in the box. I mean from what I’ve seen and heard at UNIT, no one gets in here unless the ship wants them to and if anything happens to Rose…” Martha paused and stood up. “I’m here.”

“Wizard. See you in a few.” Donna rang off and Rose bounced in excitement. Jack pinched the bridge of his news.

“Rose, please think about this,” Jake said in a pleading voice.

“I have and we need to do this. You know we do.” He groaned about stubborn blondes and marched toward the console room clearly outvoted.

“Come on, Martha, you’ll want to see this.” Rose grabbed her hand and pulled her along followed by Sarah Jane.

Like a well-practiced dance, Rose moved around the console, gracefully turning knobs, sliding switches and pressing buttons while Jack set the coordinates. She met Jack’s gaze around the time rotor, and he was far from annoyed. There was a gleam Rose recognized. Jack wanted to protect her but he knew very well the heart pounding sensation of piloting the TARDIS.

The ship pulsed around them as the hum changed tickling in the back of Rose’s head. Oh yes, the TARDIS was ready to move, travel, stretch her proverbial time legs if only to move locations. She’d been at rest for months and even she itched to go, explore, and do what she always did with the Doctor. 

“Sarah Jane, you want to keep an eye on time mom here?” Jack teased.

“I’ll be fine, brilliant even.” Rose patted the console, her fingers trailing over the rough coral. “She won’t hurt me even accidentally. Will you sweetheart.” Affection flushed through Rose and she swore her heart beat in tandem to the time rotor. A warm sensation raced across her skin like being wrapped in a fluffy blanket.

“No worries, Captain, I’ve got my eye on her.” Sarah Jane smiled warmly and stood by, also patting the console like an old friend. “Besides, it’s only a quick jaunt. Not like we’re tumbling into a Time Storm.”

“Time Storm?” Martha questioned, and gripped the railing as if her life depended on it. 

“No worries, Martha keep a grip just in case,” Rose warned over her shoulder still smiling at the utter joy of this adventure. A few bumps and one shudder later, they landed.

Rose high fived Sarah Jane. “I’d almost forgotten the exhilaration,” Sarah Jane commented nostalgically.

“I know what you mean.” Rose sighed and patted her baby bump. “Exciting isn’t it sweetheart?”

“And we’ve moved?” Martha asked and looked toward the door.

“Maybe not through time but definitely planet side,” Jack announced and ran down the ramp and threw open the door.

“Took you long enough.” Donna brushed past him and marched inside as Jack peeked out. He turned back frowning. 

“Why is it always stormy over the big spooky house?”

“We’ve got to catch you up on twenty first century horror films, Jack?” Rose shook her head before she hugged Donna.

“Sarah Jane walked over to Jack and sighed. “Mr. Smith’s data indicates this house has been vacant for over twenty-five years and the last residents disappeared mysteriously. It has a history of that. The latest disappearance were two paranormal investigators five years ago.”

“Of course it does.” Jack snorted. “Anything specific wrong with it? Ancient burial grounds? Murderous owners? Mad scientists?”

“It’s haunted,” Donna announced. “I spoke to the neighbors down the street. No one even walks there dog in front of it anymore. They keep seeing a creepy image in the window.”

Rose walked to the monitor where Jack had pulled up an exterior visual. Martha moved next to her. Two story decrepit Victorian type manor house with paint peeling off and wood shutters hanging off.

“Creepy. And we’re going in there without any permission?” Martha asked. “What about back up?”

“I’m the back up.” Rose patted the monitor. “I’ll keep track while you do a visual inspection and take some readings.” She tossed Sarah Jane the sonic.

“What about me? Don’t I get some love?” Jack teased.

“Sarah Jane’s better with the sonic, even if it’s just the spare and doesn’t have all the programs of the one the Doctor has.” Rose exchanged a knowing look with her friend. “Besides, I know you have your vortex manipulator. It may not be good for transport but I’ve seen you tinkering with it.”

“Vortex Manipulator?” Martha said slowly and furrowed her brow.

“Don’t worry Martha, you get used to their technobabble,” Donna promised, flipping her hair over her shoulder and peered at the monitor.

“It’s a time travel and transport device from the fifty first century,” Rose explained “Anything else on the house Sarah Jane?” Rose asked.

“Mr. Smith has detected an unusual energy signature that does not match anything previously recorded on Earth.”

“Torchwood would have identified any anomalies or unusual activity. I’d know.” Jack stared at the house, one hand griping the TARDIS door.

“As I said, this isn’t anything that is recorded in UNIT’s database and although Torchwood has extensive records, this may not be significant enough to catch your attention.”

Rose bit her lip and looked back at the monitor wishing she had more access to TARDIS resources. The Doctor would know. She raked a hand through her hair. Then again, he’d be the first to race in and figure it out himself. Yep, she thought to her baby. Your Daddy is a nutter, brilliant but still more apt to leap before he looks.

“So what’s the plan?” Martha asked.

“Reconnaissance,” Jack replied. “for us, while Rose keeps in contact from the TARDIS where she’ll stay, right Rose.” No questioning his emphatic tone. It grated on Rose’s nerves and resulted in a rebellious glare fixed on him.

“Yes, Captain.” She saluted which left him snorting. “I’ll be a good pregnant woman and stay inside. The TARDIS will keep me company.” She leaned a hip against the console and again felt warmth envelop her.

“It’ll be all right.” Martha said in an uncertain voice.

“Martha, give me your mobile.” Rose input her number. “Call if you need help. Just because I’m in the TARDIS doesn’t mean I can’t help you.” Martha’s face relaxed into a grateful smile.

Sarah Jane donned her trench coat over her brown pant suit. “I’ll stay in touch. I’ve asked Mr. Smith to send his readings to your mobile, just in case we lose contact.”

“I’ve got UNIT and Torchwood on speed dial, just in case,” Rose assured her.

Rose watched on the monitor as they entered the house. A shiver coursed down her spine.

“Just nerves that’s all. They’ll be fine.” Her phone beeped with a video connection from Sarah Jane’s phone. “Got it Sarah Jane, connecting to the TARDIS.” The video showed up on the monitor. It looked like what she’d expect from a possibly haunted house. Old antique furniture draped with dust covers and layers of grime coating every surface.

“Whoa, that’s not normal,” Jack’s voice sounded off the video. Rose watched a data stream streak across the bottom of the screen with green pulses flaring.

“Wait what’s that?” Donna asked walking into the picture. “Oh my god!” the video cut off.

“Shit.” Rose tried turning the video on and off; tried calling Sarah Jane. Nothing. She couldn’t reach any of them by mobile. She ran down the ramp and the TARDIS door wouldn’t open. “Seriously?” Hands on her hips she narrowed her eyes on the ceiling. “I just want to make sure the house is still there?”

The ship seemed oblivious, except for a blinking light on the console opposite the monitor. “Never seen that one before,” she muttered and walked back to examine it. The blue light pulsed, three times then one then three then four. It repeated that cycle. Rose bit her lip.

“What are you trying to tell me?” The light was on the panel for the vortex and exochoroplastic shield which Rose had just learned about from Jack. This was part of the TARDIS defense mechanism. “That can’t be good. Is this because of something in the house?”

The Time Rotor pumped in a new cycle. Normally, at rest and anchored, the rotor remained stagnant. A pressure built in Rose’s temple. “You’re trying to tell me something. I know it but I don’t understand.”

The monitor lit up with a blue screen. Gallifreyan symbols floated across it. “What’s this?” Rose moved over and tapped a few commands on the keyboard. Nothing happened. She walked around to the translation matrix and checked the settings. “Okay, you’re not reset. We aren’t moving. You won’t let me out…” She tried reaching the internet or an outside line. Nothing.

For the first time, her stomach twisted with nervousness. The TARDIS never cut her off. The lights dimmed and the rotor pumped faster. Green lights lit from below the console. The hairs on her arms stood on end and she stumbled back onto the pilot seat. 

“I’ve got to think this through.” She pressed her fingers to her temples and focused on TARDIS lessons with the Doctor and Jack. Defense systems were mostly automatic to prevent damage or prevent access. The TARDIS shuddered and the time rotor pulsed again like it was trying to move. “Or someone is trying to move or contact us. We can’t move without a pilot unless an emergency program is activated,” Rose swallowed hard as her thoughts turned to the one time the TARDIS was transmatted but that took enormous power and…

“Please don’t let it be Daleks.” Anger burst in hot waves and she dug her fingers into her jeans. The Daleks were gone. The Doctor sacrificed everything to send them to hell. She eyed the door but what if there was something in the house and it was a trap?

The muscles in her back twisted with tension and hear heart slammed in her chest. Rose bent over sucking in deep breaths as nausea and fear overwhelmed her. She cradled her stomach.

“Please don’t let it be Daleks. My baby deserves a chance.” Tears sprang forth as Rose cradled her unborn child nestled within her.

Chimes played from somewhere beneath her, a melody she recognized from a dream. The console lit up, almost glowing. Rose stood and drew closer.

“You want me to activate one of the Doctor’s emergency programs, don’t you?” Her hand hovered over the control panel. One was her first Doctor taking her back to the Powell Estate. Three was automatic recall and would take her back to Cardiff. No way she was abandoning her friends. What would the others do? Knowing the Doctor, there was probably a self-destruct program. She didn’t want to risk that.

The monitor flashed and more symbols streamed across. Rose noticed a pattern matching the flashing light. She chewed on her thumb nail. “I really shouldn’t.” She stepped forward and squeezed her eyes shut. “Please don’t blow us up.” Rose pressed down hard on a button and turned a blue glowing globe.

The shielding flashing light turned off. Nothing else happened and she slowly released her breath. The monitor flickered and in place of place of Gallifreyan writing was static. 

“What does it mean? She paced around the console clenching her hands.” Tears of frustration coursed down her face, Rose desperately banged on the keyboard mentally sending out her distress to the TARDIS until everything went silent and dark except for the snowy monitor. Slowly, an image emerged. Rose’s eyes widened.

“Doctor!” Her heart nearly burst out of her chest as she pressed a hand to the monitor. He looked the same, hair tousled, brainy specs and brown pin stripes. But she couldn’t hear him. “I can’t hear you” Rose shouted and looked up at the Time Rotor before facing him. “Tell me what to do?” She gripped the edges of the monitor. The Doctor’s face softened. She watched his mouth move and he leaned in gripping something like she was.

She shook her head. “If you can hear me, please know how much we love and miss you. We’re…we’re okay and still trying to find a way through to you. Any hints would be nice.” Her voice broke and she choked on her tears.

He took off his glasses and she swore he mouthed her name and looked down at her abdomen. Rose hiccupped and touched her swollen stomach. “It’s a girl. I hope you can hear me.” His eyes glistened and he spoke at the camera. He scowled, gripped his hair and his image vanished.

“No! Don’t go!” Rose banged on the keyboard, tears blurred her vision and here chest tightened with anguish. She sank to the grating, heaving gasps and sobs and curled around herself. “It’s not fair!” She slapped a hand on the metal grating uncaring about the pain and screamed her frustration until her throat felt raw.

After a few more cough wracking sobs, she sat up and rubbed her stomach. “I’m sorry. I know you pick up on when mummy is feeling horrible. And it’s not how I want you to be born or what life is really like. It’s beautiful really. Even when the universe is cruel, there’s still a lot of good in the world. That’s what you’re dad wants you to know.”

The lights flickered back on. The monitor cleared until Rose could see the house and watched her friends emerge with two more people. She sat on the grating and scrubbed at her face until she heard the door open.

“Rose? Did you see all that?” Donna asked, her voice slightly out of breath.

“Sorry.” Rose stood and wiped at her face. “Was a bit busy.”

“What’s wrong?” Donna marched over and pulled Rose into her arms. 

“The Doctor, I saw him.”

“Jack get your arse in here!” Donna shouted.

Jack barreled in took one look at Rose and skidded to a stop. 

“She says she saw the Doctor.” Donna pulled back enough to look Rose in the eyes. “Tell us what happened.” Rose nodded and moved away to collapse onto the pilot seat.

“I was watching you on the video and lost the connection. I couldn’t call out and the console lit up like Christmas. Then the TARDIS acted like she wanted me to activate the emergency program panel so I did.”

“That was…dangerous.” Jack eyed the console with suspicion and walked over to the monitor and keyboard.

“You think?” Rose shook her head. “I think it had to do with the shielding. Everything went quiet and then I saw the Doctor on the monitor. I couldn’t hear him though.” Rose pressed the heels of here hands into her eyes.

“Hey now, it’s all right,” Jack said in a soft voice and sat next to her pulling her onto his lap into a hug. “You did what you had to. And I’m thinking you released the shields long enough for the Doctor to try and connect with you. That’s a good thing.”

“But I couldn’t hear him or communicate.”

“I think you did. And the TARDIS recorded everything. We just need to study the recording and do a little lip reading to figure out what he was saying.”

Sarah Jane walked in and handed Rose the sonic. Sniffing, she laughed. “Thanks. Probably could have used this. Maybe.”

“Is it the house, Jack?” Sarah Jane asked.

“Maybe.” Jack raked a hand through his hair and slid Rose off his lap before he sprang up to review the data on the monitor.

“What do you mean the house?” Rose asked.

“We think it was a pocket universe adjacent to our own,” Sarah Jane said, turned back to the door.

“It was a love story,” Donna filled in. “You see this alien couple got when a hole opened up. One, our not quite a ghost, got trapped here only she wasn’t quite in phase. She was stuck while her boyfriend was in their home universe and…” Donna drifted off.

“I think I know,” Rose answered softly and gazed down at the sonic.

“We were able to get the couple reunited and retrieve the investigators who disappeared five years ago. Sadly, they were the only survivors,” Sarah Jane finished. “And they’re quite traumatized.”

“Martha’s with them outside,” Donna explained.

Despite a hollowed out ache in her chest, Rose stood up and walked outside ignoring Jack calling after her. She smiled when she saw the very ordinary looking couple, a tall man in a suit wearing glasses and a younger brown haired woman in jeans and a sweater.

“Rose,” Jack said by her side.

“Take care of them, Jack.” She pocketed the sonic. “I mean it. Make sure they’re sorted, help them to find--” Her voice cracked.

“I will. Just like we’re going to figure out the Doctor’s message.” Rose nodded at his softly spoken words. Sarah Jane brushed by her.

“Donna, Martha and I will get them back to London.” Sarah Jane looked at Jack. “You’ll take Rose home, yes?”

“Yeah.” Jack cleared his throat. “You get them back to London and I’ll get someone over to your place to arrange a safe house and counseling for them.” 

Sarah Jane hugged Rose. “It’s going to be all right. This was meant to be. All of it.” 

Rose smiled weakly. “Yeah, at least we reunited one couple and brought the other one home.” She looked over at the investigators who hugged each other.

“And you heard from your space man,” Donna reminded.

“You’re right.” Rose nodded. “It’s a good day,” Rose said with more strength and certainty than she felt. She waved goodbye to her friends and walked back to the console with Jack.

“Was it the house?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe it helped somehow I mean it was a gateway between two universes, just not the one we need.”

“And it’s closed now,” Rose stated.

“I hope so but just to be sure, we’ll quarantine the house.”

“Yeah sure.” Her shoulders slumped as she stared blankly at the console.

“Rose, he got through. We just need to study his message.” She nodded remembering how desperate the Doctor seemed. But something Sarah Jane said suddenly hit her. “You opened a gateway between two universes.”

“Yeah but it’s shut now. When we returned the lost alien, it sealed behind it.”

“But that’s not possible. You said UNIT’s been monitoring, looking for breaches and the walls were shut. The Doctor said travel between universes was impossible without his people and…” Her eyes widened and Jack’s face hardened.

“Without destroying the adjacent universes,” he finished. “We need to get back to Cardiff and I have some phone calls to make.”

Rose worked the controls on automatic her mind racing. The universal walls were weakening. The Doctor got through and then her stomach dropped. They were all in danger unless they could find the Doctor to help them.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this will be 9 chapters in total. Crosses fingers.

“No! Rubbish, primitive technology!”  The Doctor hurled a tablet across his lab shattering it against a wall.  His team flinched as he ripped at his hair, pacing back and forth.

“You got through,” Mickey calmly reminded him.

“She couldn’t hear me!  And I couldn’t hear her!”  He kicked his stool sending it sliding until Mickey caught it.  The Doctor winced and hopped on one foot sucking his breath in pain.

“Rose is smart.  She’ll figure out you were sending her data with the image.  And there’s always Captain Cheesecake there to help her,” Mickey teased.

“Yes.” The Doctor shook his foot out and faced his work area.  “The TARDIS will have recorded it.”  He pinched the bridge of his nose.  “I just needed more time.”

“She looked good.”  Mickey leaned on the table next to him.  “We recorded on our end too.  Jackie will want to see her.”

“She was crying…desperate.” The Doctor poked at the keyboard replaying Rose’s reaction on a monitor.  He froze it on one image, of her hopeful expression and cradling her swollen abdomen. 

“It’s real now isn’t?”  Mickey bumped his shoulder.  “You can see it.  She’s glowing.”

“What? No! The Doctor put on his glasses and squinted at the image.  “I don’t see any illumination.”  He frantically replayed the recording.  “Eyes glistening yes but skin looks a bit peaked if anything.  Where do you see luminescence? Are you sure it’s not he TARDIS?”  Mickey burst out laughing and slapped his back.

“Man you have got a lot to learn.  I guess you missed it with Jackie while you were in a snit and focused on your lab.  Earth women, they sort of light up when they’re pregnant.  You can see it.  She’s got that I’m gonna have a kid look.  Even if she’s crying, underneath she’s happy to see you.  I can tell.”

“Mickey, this is no time for humany sentiment.  Rose is undergoing a hybrid pregnancy and one that hasn’t happened in millennium and then it was overseen by my people.  Even if they sneered about it.”  The Doctor sniffed and straightened.  He stopped the image and his face softened.

“She’s brilliant, completely and utterly,” he said softly.  “She figured it all out, listened to the TARDIS and activated the emergency program to allow me to hack through the TARDIS automatic defenses.”

“Course she did.  She’s Rose,” Mickey answered.  “I didn’t see anyone else in there with her.  You think she’s living on the TARDIS?”

The Doctor hesitated and cringed.  He jammed his hands in his pockets and paced.  He never wanted for her to shut herself away.  Even if the TARDIS was the safest place for her and the baby.  He stopped and rushed back to the screen enhancing every frame. 

“There.”  He thumped a finger at the monitor at a blown up image of the console.  “The control setting is different.  They’ve moved the TARDIS and just recently.  But why?”

“Maybe they were trying to do what we’re doing?” Mickey suggested.  “Looking for a weak spot to get through.  They’re universe could be going through what we are, unstable walls, stars disappearing and shifting energy readings.”

“No, we’re ahead of them.”  The doctor stepped back and tugged at his ear.  “It’s been one standard Earth year seven months, eight days, three hours, twenty two minutes since I arrived here.  He squinted one eye and puffed a breath out.  “Given the time differential, it’s probably been about--”  Every muscle froze and he slowly refocused on the picture of Rose and her pregnant abdomen.

“Maybe Ten months two weeks,” he said slowly.

“That can’t be right,” Mickey insisted.  “Rose was pregnant at Canary Wharf. She should have given birth already.  I mean looking at her she’s I dunno in her second trimester?”

“You can’t judge her gestation by human standards.”  The Doctor pressed the pads of his fingers to the middle of his screen as if he could reach through the Void and touch Rose and their unborn child.  He leaned onto work counter as reality crushed down on his big Time Lord brain.

“I’m so bloody thick!”  He yanked at his hair before straightening, his throat thick with fear and awe.  “Our child is complicated and development will progress in growth spurts instead of a gradual slow progression.  Primary development occurred slowly probably with the TARDIS acting as part of the process my people called looming.  And Rose isn’t like most human females.  She survived exposure to the heart of the TARDIS, pure time.  I took it out of her, saved her from burning up but she was saturated in artron energy and a good dose of huon particles.  It’s part of her at a cellular level.”

“Is she in danger?” Mickey’s voice hardened and a tension rolled off him.  He and Mickey had grown closer over the past year and a half but Mickey would protect Rose even from him.

“No.  I double checked after I regenerated.  No ill effects other than some benign temporal energy readings and some memory loss which trust me, is for the best.  A human brain isn’t designed to handle all of the universe’s history and possibilities.  Not even a Time Lord could survive that.  Rose adapted like it was nothing.  She was still Rose, so very human.”

“But she’s not now is she?”  Mickey crossed his arms, the accusation sharp in his voice.

The Doctor faced him, the truth piecing both his hearts.  “She is human, just evolved.  I don’t think I realized how much until I learned she conceived.  Now--” He trailed off.

“Now what?” Mickey demanded.

“Without examining her, it’s hard to say but I’d say she’s adapting again, only to this impossible pregnancy.  In theory, and with the assumption she’s living a majority of her time on the TARDIS, and based on what we’ve seen, she’s got approximately three to four months, her time, before the baby is due.”

“You knocked Rose up and she’s gonna be pregnant for over a year?” Mickey’s voice pitched up as the Doctor nervously tugged at  his ear.

“What?” Jackie shrieked as she walked into the lab, eyes narrowed on the doctor.  “What have you done to my daughter?”

“You’re on your own, Boss.” Mickey slipped away while the Doctor faced Jackie like the oncoming hordes of Genghis Khan trying to break into his TARDIS.

“Now, Jackie, it’s more like what  _ we _ did together and--”  He backed up at the very terrifying way Jackie stormed over to him, eyes like laser beams, her enormous purse clutched like a weapon.

“I mean, everything’s fine. She looks brilliant and she’s got the TARDIS, Jack and Sarah Jane looking after her.”  He held up his hands in surrender.

“That’s not enough!  Nine months of pregnancy is hard on a woman’s body much less whatever your alien cock has done!”  The Doctor refused to admit it but perhaps he might have turned a bit red at discussing anything he and Rose did in the intimacy of his TARDIS. 

“She looks good, Jackie.”  Mickey announced from a distance, not moving to intervene.  He pointed Jackie toward the monitor.  “See.”  The Doctor quickly played the video and Jackie’s eyes filled with tears and an all new level of guilt tore through the Doctor.

“I can’t hear her,” Jackie choked and like the Doctor, pressed her fingers to the screen.

“No audio but I know what she’s saying,” the Doctor confessed.  Jackie glared at him.  “What?  I read lips.”

“What are you waiting for?  Tell us!”  Jackie demanded. 

The Doctor walked up to the monitor wanting to do nothing more than just stare at Rose, absorb every detail but he had an angry mother next to him.  He could do a more detailed analysis later.

“She says she can’t hear me and--”  His throat closed up.  “She’s asking me how she can help; that she loves and misses me.”  He looked off to the side, tears wetting his eyes and his chest tight with the intensity of how much he missed her, needed to love her and tell her everything he hadn’t before. 

Jackie’s hand on his arm startled him from the way every muscle clenched and his mind raged at how the universe robbed him of what should be a happy time with Rose.  He rubbed at his eyes.

“She and the baby are okay and still trying to find a way through to us. And if I have any hints to help, that’d be nice.”  He cleared his voice and stared at the monitor.  “It’s a girl.”  His voice softened and a tear trailed down his cheek.

“A girl?  My baby’s having a girl,” Jackie repeated in a broken voice.  “I’m gonna have a granddaughter!” She shouted and the Doctor had the breath squeezed out of him by his sort of mother-in-law embracing him with a zeal that should leave him scampering away.  Yet for some reason, he returned her embrace and absorbed this one bit joy and warmth banishing the pain and loneliness away for a short while.

When Jackie released him and ran over to hug Mickey, he couldn’t help but smile.  He needed this.  Hope, joy at a new family member and Jackie’s stern affection revitalizing him. 

“So what’s next?  When can we get through properly?” she asked.

“That’s a lot more complicated,” he replied slowly. 

“Well uncomplicated it.”  Jackie crossed her arms and tilted her head ever so slightly in her perfected  _ do the thing Time Lord _ look.

“Microscopic cracks and one tiny whole, the size of a pea…well half a pea allowed me to send an image and data, not even sound.  That’s all.  A physical form would take substantially much larger breeches which endangers the entire multi verse.”

“You still don’t have a way?”  Jackie sighed and gazed around the room.  “All this time, scientists and stuff and this is it?”

“Jackie one does not conquer the intricacies of inter universal travel with primitive technology in a blink of an eye,” the Doctor retorted.

“Pete did,” she reminded him with a smug smile.

“That was different and two universes were collapsing not to mention the environmental damage done to this world which, I might remind you, we are still repairing.  It also required a morally bankrupt organization on the other side punching their way through the Void.”

“But you got a video through and we still have those jumper things.  Not to mention that dimension cannon everyone’s going on about.”

“No one’s supposed to know about that,” Mickey inserted sidling up to the Doctor.

“Don’t look at me,” The Doctor responded defensively to Mickey’s arched brow.  “It’s not like I go to tea and talk about tran- dimensional physics over Sunday roast.”

“Oh please, like I don’t keep an eye on things.”  Jackie rolled her eyes.  “Someone has to keep you in line.” Jackie walked over and poked at some devices before the Doctor could protectively sweep them out of her grasp.

“Aunt Jackie’s right.  It’s not that hard to find out.” 

“Amelia Pond!”  The Doctor’s joy at the child could not be more genuine.  Since bringing her back to London, he’d spent as much downtime as he could with her to help her through the trauma of surviving the anomaly in her bedroom. 

“That’s Amy,” Jackie reminded him.  “Remember, she’s starting over.”

“I liked Amelia,” the Doctor frowned. “Amelia Pond rolls off the tongue nicely.”  He pouted knowing Amy would focus her irritation on him but more in an annoyed preteen way.

“You got to choose your name.”  She hopped on his stool spinning around and smirked at him as her trainers bounced off the metal frame.

“Yes I did.  And you’re right.  You deserve a fresh start.”

“Didn’t I leave you with Pete?” Jackie asked, eyeing Amy with suspicion.

“He’s showing off Tony and talking about Vitex and I was bored.  Besides, you said the Doctor needed a good kick in the arse.  I can help!”  She grinned brightly and flipped her long ginger hair over her shoulder before turning an inquisitive glance at the Doctor.

“Now see, here, Miss Eavesdropper, that was not meant for the likes of young ears.  I thought you said you were sleeping better?”  Hands on her hips, Jackie’s gaze softened.

Amelia shrugged and looked at the monitor.  “That’s Rose isn’t it?”  She hopped off the stool and walked over to stare.

“Points for distraction and avoidance,” The Doctor noted. “Yes that’s Rose.  Why aren’t you sleeping?”  The Doctor knelt be her side.  “Amy?”

“Bad dreams.”

“Yes, I have those too but humans, growing humans especially need rest.”  She plucked his sonic off the counter and his respiratory bypass kicked in as she examined it and he used every bit of discipline to not snatch it from her.

“What if I’m not like other humans.  What if I’m like you?”  Her voice was soft and slightly hesitant. He swallowed hard remembering a talk under the stars where he confessed he wasn’t human, answering her questions about his planet and bonding with the human child who seemed as lost as him.

“Amy Pond, you are very human.  Even if you lived near space time anomaly, it didn’t change the core of who you are.  Just made you a bit more aware of things.”  He slid the sonic from her grasp, surprised she didn’t fight him. 

Over the past few months, she tended to stubbornly fight everything…except Jackie.  She and Jackie seemed to bond quickly or maybe it was Jackie’s direct and honest nature that appealed to Amy.

“That’s not what they say at school.”  She lifted her chin and jutted out her bottom lip daring him to deny it.

“Ahhhh jealous classmates.  I know that well,” he admitted and pocketed his sonic before standing. 

“She’s been in three fights,” Jackie informed him before clamping a hand on Amelia’s shoulder and tugging her back toward her.  “Gave that little terror Brian Dorsey a black eye for pulling her braid and calling her a freak.”  The Doctor didn’t miss the pride in Jackie’s voice.  “Course, they expelled her.”  Jackie frowned and patted Amelia on the shoulder. 

“You aren’t a freak.  You’re brilliant, Amy Pond.  But maybe next time, try and educate the primitives, eh?”  The Doctor patted her on the head and she shoved his hand away.

“Educate?  Him and his band of delinquents have been brow beating her for weeks!” Jackie defended.  “That school didn’t do barely a thing.  They just didn’t like that Amy’s smarter than most of those kids.”

“Smarter are you?” Pride laced the Doctor’s voice. 

“Smarter than any of those kids at school,” Jackie defended.  “Just cause she was caught up in some weird time whatever and didn’t get all the schooling doesn’t mean she’s not bright.  Some of us learned a lot more from life than from books.” 

A cocky pride invigorated him.  Jackie Tyler may not have book knowledge but she was clever in her own right.  Just like Rose.  And again, a pang in his chest reminded him not to lose hope.  If Amelia could not just survive but thrive by the rift, he and Rose could find a way to each other.

“I like to read.” Amy insisted, her cheeks flushing red.  “Just cause a crack ate my parents and aunt doesn’t mean I didn’t go to the library and read.  I like books.”

“Course you do!”  The Doctor agreed.  “And Jackie’s right.  The Universe is the best teacher.  Maybe we should homeschool you for a bit, yeah?”  He eyed Jackie who smiled in agreement.

“Pete and me have already arranged it with lots of outings.  No reason to be cooped up at home or in a classroom.  Right Amy?”  Amy nodded decisively.

“I’m a little jealous,” the Doctor confided.  “Haven’t had much time to go off exploring the galleries and museums.  I hear the British Museum has a new exhibit on Queen Boudica!  Now there was a fierce, intelligent woman.  Died a tragic death.”

Jackie sighed, hands on her hips.  “Maybe you should focus less on some dead Queen and more on my daughter.”  The bite in her voice did not match the tears glistening in her eyes as she again looked at Rose’s image

“She’ll be fine Jackie,” the Doctor assured and squeezed her arm.  “I’ve transmitted some data to help coordinate our efforts.  Eventually the deterioration of universal walls will become evident in her universe and we’ll be able to travel through.

“But it won’t be in time will it?” Jackie’s voice broke.  “I heard what you said to Mickey.  She’ll have had the baby…alone.”

“She’s not alone.” Conviction he wasn’t sure he felt vibrated in his tone.  “She’s on the TARDIS, with medical technology far more advanced than anything on Earth; and she has Jack and Sarah Jane.”

“She needs us and she needs a real medical doctor.  Sarah Jane’s a reporter and Jack’s just one of your time traveling hitchhikers.”

“Sarah Jane is level headed and I trust her.  Jack knows the TARDIS.  If Rose needs anything, they’ll make sure she receives the best care even if they have to take her a hospital in the future.”

“But we won’t be there to hold her hand.”  Jackie clung to Amy, tears coursing down her cheeks.  The Doctor swallowed hard, his stomach knotted and he convulsively opened and closed his hand.  Anxiety pounded in his temples.  Jackie was right.  He should be there.  But every bit of data pointed to the impossibility of that happening.

“I will eventually make it through and they’ll be fine.”  He faced the monitor and repeated that phrase in his mind, burning the mantra into the very depths of his consciousness until he willed it so, a fact, a fixed point.  Rose and their daughter would survive and thrive.

Jackie and Amy stepped by his side.  “I know you’re doing your best.  And I’m grateful you could get through so we could see her.”

The Doctor nodded not trusting his voice.  “I’ll get through better next time.  I promise.”

“I know you will, sweetheart.”  She hugged him and gazed at the monitor once more.  “We should let you get back to it.  Just don’t work yourself any thinner than you are.  And don’t forget you owe me at least an hour or two for tea.  I’ll have the cook make up another banana cake for you.”

Tylers, he would never get over how they could be so tough and insistent one moment and so full of compassion the next.  It was a family he would always be proud to be a part of.

“I’ll be there.  Unless, you know there’s a break through.” 

“No leaving without talking to me first,” Jackie warned.  “I mean it, Mister.  There are things that need to be said.”  She patted Amy on the shoulder and guided her away.  “Come on Amy, let’s see what trouble Uncle Pete and Tony have found.”

As they reached the door, Amy turned and raced back to the Doctor. “You’re going to leave me aren’t you?”  It was half demand and half nervous question.

The Doctor knelt before her.  “Someone has to make the first jump.  I can’t ask anyone else to do it and no one knows my TARDIS like me.”

“Take me with you.”

“What about Aunt Jackie and Uncle Pete?” he asked as Amy stared him in the eye, the slightest fear showing with a trembling lip.

“I love them,” she admitted softly and nervously like she expected they too would disappear.  “But they don’t understand like you do.  They don’t understand the Darkness.”

“What do you mean the Darkness?” he asked as a shiver coursed up his spine and all his time senses quivered.

“The Darkness, it’s coming to devour us.  I see it sometimes in my dreams.  It’s eating the stars and soon it’ll be here.  Except it doesn’t like you.”  He gripped her shoulders.

“How do you know?”

She shrugged. “I just do.  It’s like the voice in the crack, looking to devour everything even time.”

“Did it…tell you this?” he drew out, mind racing at the possibilities of what entity had the capability she described and where in his past he might have encountered it.  If it knew his name…

“I just sort of knew like in fairy tales when the big bad wolf tried to eat little red and she topped it cause of happily ever after--”

“What did you say?” he gasped, skin prickling in recognition and a heart pounding hope.  His Rose was just this good.  Amelia rolled her eyes.

“Amy,” Jackie called out.  “Leave the Doctor to his work.  Pete’s waiting for us.”

“Just promise,” Amy insisted with a stubborn determination.

“I promise.  I won’t leave you behind.”  He wasn’t sure why he made that particular promise other than a tickle at the back of his head pushed him to make it.  Amelia Pond now known as Amy was part of this;  as was Rose whether she knew it or not. 

He had a suspicion falling into Pete’s World was no accident.  Something was coming, using the reverberations of the Time War, Torchwood’s meddling and maybe even the Doctor’s own actions to rip its way through the multi verse.  But who or what was it?  He needed Rose and his TARDIS more than ever.  What message had Bad Wolf left him that he was missing?


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I know nothing of labor other than what was described to me so if inaccurate descriptions bother you, stop here and read no further. Although there is lead up to the main event, there are no gory details of the birth itself. You are safe from gore here. Thanks for reading!

After one of numerous bathroom breaks and rubbing various sore muscles and joints she returned to the library, one of the few places she felt comfortable.  She hadn’t left the TARDIS in weeks and although she loved her ship dearly, fresh air would be nice.  Unfortunately, her last attempt to walk the plass ended in her exhausted and unable to make it back to the TARDIS without help.

Luckily, Ianto came to her rescue.  She smiled when she thought of the tall, quiet man in a suit and how Jack looked at him.  Never did she think she’d see Jack Harkness properly over the moon in love.  And it wasn’t that he was blushing or gushing.  It was more a settled look of affection or how they held hands walking to the movies.  Ianto was far more likely to blush and Rose rather enjoyed seeing Jack with someone strong yet soft enough to be what Jack deserved.

Rose sighed as she brought up an image of her own love and dropped back down on the sofa.  It had been two and half months since the Doctor contacted her. She patted her stomach and the baby kicked in response.

“Gonna be a runner like your daddy, aren’t you?”  She smiled and warmth flushed her face.  “He’ll love you so much.”  Tears wet her eyes and she struggled to catch her breath.  Not that breathing wasn’t often the issue being so pregnant.  But this had more to do with overwhelming emotions, of love, yearning, fear and hope.

“Don’t you worry, little one, Daddy’s got a plan.  He rang me up and to let us know.”  Rose touched an app on the tablet and studied a transcript Jack had made of what the Doctor said, promising he loved her and asking her to stay safe.  Following the transcript were various formulas and configurations of data. 

“Bet you’ll be as smart as him,” Rose promised.  “Just look at what he sent us even if we couldn’t talk.  Uncle Jack figured a lot of it out.  We even brought your Uncle Ianto on board to help.” 

Rose still giggled over how the normally nonplussed Ianto gaped and pointed around the console room, completely flustered and overwhelmed.  It comforted her in a way, how Ianto seemed in as much awe as she had been her first time on the TARDIS.  And it established an amount of trust.  Especially, when she spoke to him about his loss at Canary Wharf.  Ianto and she had much in common.

Footsteps sounded down the corridor and Rose smiled at the TARDIS’ bouncy change in hum, a special greeting for Donna. 

“What are you doing sitting up?  You’re to be resting!” Donna chastised but Rose was more focused on the scent of food, salty, fried and was that the rustle of Styrofoam?

“I am resting, see?”  She swung her feet up on the sofa.  “Me, lying around like a lady of leisure.”

Donna plunked down her bag and dragged a chair over.  “Yeah, looks like work on that tablet.  You’re supposed to be eating truffles, watching telly and reading trashy novels that make Ianto blush.”

“That’s not what makes Ianto blush,” Rose adjusted her pillows.

“Dating Captain Hawtness?  Probably not.  Spill what do you know?”

“Donna,” Rose drew out her name as she adjusted herself so the baby pressed on the least internal organs.

“What?  Ianto and I talk just not about that.  Do you know he’s got ins with Interpol and NASA?”

“Not surprised,” Rose confessed.  “He worked at Torchwood London as  a sort of a liaison.”  Rose stared across the room at a shelf of haphazardly stacked books.  “He lost his girlfriend.”

“I’m sorry,”  Donna squeezed Rose’s shoulder.  “He’s a good man.  Jack’s lucky.”

Rose shook herself from dark memories of Canary Wharf and focused on her growling stomach.  “Please tell me you brought lunch.”

“As if I wouldn’t feed you something decent instead of that alien stuff and all that healthy vitamin enriched shite Jack and Martha force on you.  Here.”  Donna handed her a paper bag with fish and chips along with packets of vinegar.

“Donna Noble you’re my favorite.”

“I thought I was your favorite?” Jack sauntered in and sat beside her stealing a chip.  Rose promptly slapped his hand.

“I’m just saving little bit,” he said around a mouth full and looking down at Rose’s baby bump.

“The baby decided she likes fish and chips now.”  Rose hummed as she bit into a piece of fried fish. “What are you doing here?  I thought you were in London all week talking to UNIT and checking into some satellite readings regarding disappearing stars?”

“I got what I needed.”  He quieted and grabbed the tablet, looking at the data.

“And?” Rose asked quietly as Donna leaned in closer.

“UNIT’s been hiding things.  They didn’t want it to get out and certainly not to me.  Stupid bureaucratic jealousy.”  Jack set the tablet on his lap and scrubbed at his face.”

“When’s the last time you slept?” Rose asked, setting aside her meal suddenly not as hungry.  If the Doctor was right, something had destabilized universal walls and whatever it was threatened all of reality.  Rose rested her hands on her belly.

“Sleep, what’s that?” Jack joked.

“It’s what you need for us to figure this out,” Donna reminded him.  “Have you updated Sarah Jane?”

“Yeah, she’s got Mr. Smith doing his thing, hacking into satellites and observatory records.”

“And the TARDIS?” Donna asked.  “Isn’t there something she can do?  I mean the Doctor sent you everything because you have his ship.”

“The TARDIS is complicated, Donna.”  Rose blew out a breath and tipped back her head to stare at the ceiling.  “We’ve tried running it through some of the routines we know about, trying to plot where the universal disruptions are occurring and find a weak spot to get through to the Doctor.”

“Well that sounds good.  What’s the problem?”  Donna shifted her chair closer.

“The problem is it’s a big universe and the readings are random, fluctuating in no reasonable pattern.”  Jack grabbed another chip.  “All of time and space, remember?  The TARDIS can’t seem to predict the next disruption.”

“But the Doctor sent it for a reason,” Donna insisted.  “Let me take a look.”

“Donna, this isn’t like accounting or filing,” Jack insisted.

“Oi!”  Donna shot a glare at Jack, crossing her arms and Rose perked up.  Donna was right. 

“A fresh pair of eyes might be good.  We could activate a holo-program showing a visual representation of the past month,” Rose commented.

“All right but I’m telling you if neither Yan or I can see it, no one can.  We’re used to looking for the improbable and the tiny details that just don’t fit or seem off from the rest of the world.”

“Donna found the haunted house,” Rose reminded him.  “And she figured out that meteor shower over London was really those alien egg things spawning those slime dog creatures.” 

“Not the same as interpreting sophisticated astrophysical data cross checked with temporal paradoxical physics.”

“The TARDIS can create a three dimensional representation of time and space just like she navigates.”  Rose sat back and tapped her fingers on the sofa cushion.

“It’s not that simple.”  Rose ignored Jack’s negativity as her thoughts spun through a few creative ideas.

“What does it hurt to just try it?” Donna insisted.

“We’d narrow things down.”  Rose sat up wincing as the baby shifted against her stomach.  “Actually, now that I think about it, maybe that’s been our problem.  We’ve made our analysis too broad.”  Rose rubbed at her side. 

“We should narrow it down to the last one hundred years in this universe and focus on known weak spots, our galaxy, where the Doctor’s home world was, the Dalek’s system, Skaro, the Medusa Cascade and any other area with anomalies capable of inter universal travel or other unusual anomalies like black holes or super novas that don’t fit the normal physics,” Rose noted.  “Anything that might create or channel extraordinary energy be it temporal or otherwise could point us in the right direction.”

“You’ve been spending too much time on the TARDIS.”  Jack shook his head but grinned and stole another chip before he stood up. 

“She has but she’s right,” Donna insisted and high fived Rose before she stood straightening out her long purple tunic.

“It’s not a bad idea,” Jack acknowledged.  “I just don’t think it’s going to show what you want.”

“Well we won’t know if we don’t try,” Donna insisted and nodded at Rose who understood Jack’s reluctance.  He didn’t want to give her false hope.

“I know it’s a long shot, but we can’t sit here and do nothing.  The Doctor is counting on us.”  Rose held out her hands, wiggling her fingers.

“I’ll set it up.  You rest.”  Jack eyed Donna with the  _ take care of the pregnant woman look _ .    

“I can still help.”  Rose’s tone was petulant but she didn’t care.  There was such a thing as too much coddling and friends being too solicitous.  Besides, she needed to do something other than just think of the plan.  She wanted to move around, take action and help.

“And you are helping.”  Donna patted her shoulder.  “Captain Hawtness will set everything up and then we’ll all take a look.  Until then, you just focus on little bit.  Besides, you don’t have much longer from what Martha says.”

“Thank god,” Rose muttered as her lower back throbbed and her bladder screamed for release yet again.”  She struggled to get up.

“I got this Rose,” Jack reminded her.

“Really?  Cause last time I checked you couldn’t pee for me and if you can, please tell me why you waited till now to tell me?” She groaned as Donna helped her up.

“And that’s my cue too get to work.  Call me if anything exciting happens.”  He backed out of the room with a salute.

“Figures,” Rose muttered and gritted her teeth as the muscles in her back spasmed. 

“Men are wankers,” Donna agreed.  “Even the alien ones.  Now come on and let’s get you sorted.”  Rose snorted and made her way back to the loo.  It wasn’t like she was going to disagree with Donna and especially not in her present condition. 

This new plan had to work.  Rose needed the Doctor and the universe needed all of them to solve what was causing the stars to disappear.

#

Two hours and two loo breaks later while Rose enjoyed a vitamin enhanced banana chocolate smoothie, Jack finished the holo-program.  Donna and Rose walked into the console room where Rose leaned against a support strut which was surprisingly comfortable in her state.  She didn’t know why, but for the past thirty minutes, walking and leaning against the right surface seemed to help the cramping and aching that plagued her.

In fact, after a few sips of her smoothie, she felt the baby shift to a far more comfortable position.  Maybe it was the banana smoothie?  No matter, the relief was appreciated.

“Ready?” Jack asked.

“Go for it Jack,” Rose said and sighed at a gush of cool air the TARDIS aimed at her.

“As the lady commands.”  Jack made a few sweeping adjustments and pressed a key.  The lights dimmed except for the green glow of the time rotor and the room filled with a representation of several star systems as she had requested, all locations with anomalies.

“Whoa,” Donna gasped and walked around in wonder, poking at the various hologram images.

“Told you it would be too complicated.”  Jack crossed his arms and arched a brow at Rose just behind a pulsing representation of a black hole.

“Give her time to take it in,” Rose retorted, annoyance twitching across her chest or maybe it was yet more pregnancy symptoms.  It was so hard to tell anymore.  She pushed off the strut and wobbled slightly before regaining her balance and walked around the room, examining flickering stars, swirling nebulas and places that looked devoid of any celestial bodies or interstellar events.

“Can your program show me the points where the universal weaknesses have popped up in the past?” Donna asked.

Jack hit a few buttons and red dots appeared in the images in no apparent pattern to Rose.  She wandered through the hologram, setting her smoothie aside as certain places caught her attention.  Maybe it was the missing stars?  Except, it wasn’t like she had these areas memorized much less how they changed throughout time.

“Jack, can you cycle this over a few centuries?” Rose asked, rubbing her stomach nervously as Jack performed the requested task. 

Donna grew silent, her brow furrowed as she took it all in.  Rose focused more on what was missing.  She blinked and rubbed at her eyes.  “Can you cycle through that again?”

“You see something?” Jack asked before tapping keys.

“Maybe,” Rose drew out.  But maybe it wasn’t that she saw something but more like she felt it, like water lapping at her toes.  Only the water was more like a wave of hair raising energy washing across the console room, eating bits and pieces of space with it.

“It’s a wave, more than one,” Rose said slowly.

“No, it’s more than that.” An excited pitch rang in Donna’s voice.  “It’s music.”

“Music?” Jack drew out and sighed.  “I told you this wouldn’t work.”

“No, it’s like musical notes and it’s repeating.”  Donna quickly walked around the room showing them how the spots changed and moved like notes.

“A song?”  Rose walked over to Jack.  “Can you ask the TARDIS to take the data and interpret it as music?”

“Rose.”  Jack raked a hand through his hair.

“Just do it Hawtness!” Donna demanded.  Jack glared at her before dropping his hands and pounding out some commands.

“This may take a minute.  You can’t just take coordinates and convert them into human notes.”

“So don’t make them human,” Rose retorted.  “Make them Gallifreyan,” she said on impulse.

Jack stilled and muttered a curse.  “It couldn’t be that simple.”

“This isn’t a natural phenomenon,” Rose stated and paced two steps before leaning against the console and winced at a sharp pain in her back.

“I see where you’re going,” Donna nodded.  “Your space man said he was in a war, some Time War, yes?”

“You think that reverberations from…oh that would not be good.”  Jack stared at the monitor and walked around to work on the translation circuit. 

“I don’t know,” Rose said, staring at the console.  He never told me much.  Only that it affected all of time and space and his people were about to use some final sanction and he had to stop them.  We didn’t get into details.”  Rose inhaled sharply.

“You okay?”  Donna gripped her arm.  A gush of warm water ran down Rose’s legs.

She raised her head and met Jack’s hard stare.  “You’re in labor aren’t you?” he asked.

“Um Maybe.”  The world grayed out for a moment.  This wasn’t supposed to happen yet.  The Doctor wasn’t there to help her.  Panic clawed at her chest and she cradled her abdomen.  She didn’t even have a name for her daughter.  Her heart slammed in her chest.  She wanted her mother.

“Maybe!” Donna exclaimed staring downward. “Your flipping water broke and it’s dripping down into the grating!” Donna pulled out her mobile.  “Martha, it’s time.  Get your and Sarah Jane’s arses down to Cardiff ASAP.” 

Jack ran around the console and wrapped an arm around Rose’s waist.  “It’s all right, honey.  Just take slow easy breaths and we’ll get you to the med bay and monitor your contractions.”

Rose’s hands shook as she gripped the console.  The logical part of her knew Jack and Donna would be with her and she wasn’t alone but the irrational, emotional part was a heaving trembling mess.  Tears poured down her face and a wave of nausea overwhelmed her.  Her knees gave out.

“Oh no, no, no,” Jack swept her up into his arms.  “None of that now!  Rose look at me.”  Gasping for breath she met his concerned gaze.

“I can’t.  He’s not here.  We’re not ready.”

“You are ready,” Jack assured her in a soft tone.  “And so is this baby.  We’ve planned this for months and neither me nor the TARDIS is going to let anything happen to you or our newest addition.”  He brushed his lips against her forehead.  “Now let’s get you more comfortable.”

As he helped her from the console room, Rose heard Donna in the background shouting at Martha but she couldn’t make out the words.  A haunting melody like a sad unearthly voice lamenting loss filled the console room.  The tones swelled, rippled and danced across her skin and sank deep into her bones until it was like she was part of the song.  When she looked at Jack, his face paled and recognition reflected in his eyes.

They both knew this song from a time not so long ago when their lives changed forever.  Time, the TARDIS, and the universe merged and danced together tuning through Rose to end a war that still raged despite sacrifice and heroic efforts. 

The dull ache in her back grew.  Labor, she was in labor and but the universe needed her.  She concentrated on her breathing as Jack carried her into the corridor.  But the song still played, reminding Rose of words she uttered through time and space.

She’d seen life and death, every possibility and it hurt.  But not the way the Doctor perceived.  He said it was the time vortex burning through her.  And she had burned but the pain she felt had been so much more than a human brain overwhelmed by the vortex.  She didn’t understand it until just this moment, labor pains intensifying reminding her of a universe convulsing.  She had seen life and death; beginnings and endings; the past, future and possibilities and how it all knotted, tangled and swirled and stretched.

“Easy, Rose,” Jack encouraged as he eased her to her feet and led her into the med bay.

Rose struggled to focus on her memories of the Game Station while Jack began used the sonic to scan her vitals. 

“You’re doing great, honey.  We need to start timing your contractions.  Remember to breathe.”

“Jack, the image, I saw something.  It triggered a memory from Satellite Five.”  Jack paused, his jaw clamped down. 

“Unless there are Daleks about to invade--”

“Not the Daleks.”  Rose bit her lip.  “Contraction.”  Jack began timing her.

“The Time War.  I think I saw something from the Time War and it’s still out there.  What if Torchwood triggered it or woke it up? Maybe something in the Void or something that escaped when the universal walls weakened?” 

“Martha and Sara Jane are on their way!” Donna walked over and grasped Rose’s hand.  “How are you feeling?”

“Like I’m about to have a baby and the universe is in danger from some horrible thing from the Time War.”  Rose clenched her fingers around Donna’s.

“The universe can get in line,” Jack quipped.  “Cause baby girl comes first.  Let me know when the next contraction hits.”

Rose clenched her fingers around Donna.  “Yeah well, I don’t think the universe gives a shite about my labor pains.”

“Oi watch it!  I’m not as resilient as your space man!”  Donna yanked her hand away and rubbed it.  Tears pooled in Rose’s eyes.  “Oh Rose, I didn’t mean--”

“It’s okay.  I’m glad you’re here.  Thank you, both of you.”

“It’s gonna be okay,” Jack assured.  “And the TARDIS will make sure the universe takes a chill pill.”

Rose eyed Jack.  “You and Ianto have been out clubbing again haven’t you?”  Jack winked at her.

“Ianto will be here to help too.  He coached his sister when his brother-in-law was late to the hospital.  You’re in good hands.”

Rose leaned back and squeezed her eyes tight focusing on the Doctor.  He should be there.

#

Six hours later, Rose tenderly held a tiny, pink squirming bundle of Human-Time Lord baby girl in her arms.  The universe had not ended.  Fire and destruction did not rain down on Earth.  Luckily, there was no alien invasion and all her friends made it to the TARDIS. 

As she gazed into brown eyes so reminiscent of the Doctor, Rose wondered how she ended up so lucky.  And until that wondrous moment when she held her daughter in her arms, she never understood how truly blessed she’d been.  Despite losing her mum and the Doctor, she was the luckiest woman in the universe.

Martha sat nearby, keeping an eye on both Rose and the baby’s vitals.  Jack periodically peeked in the door, nervously checking on them.  Rose heard the murmur of voices echo down the corridor where Donna, Sarah Jane and Ianto made dinner.  Family, she’d collected them around her not unlike the Doctor collected companions.

The TARDIS hummed in the background, an easy contented sound intended to ease Rose’s concerns.  Jack slipped in. 

“You look tired.  Why don’t you let Martha and I look after--”  He arched a brow at her.  “You still haven’t told us a name.”

Warmth flushed Rose’s cheeks, watching the baby, a fist in her mouth, sucking quietly, her eyes squeezed tight.  She was a mum and despite the pain, worry and fear, a certain peace and contentment washed over her.  One day, perhaps very soon, she would introduce her daughter to the Doctor, her daddy.

“Hope.”  Her voice broke as she spoke the name and one of the baby’s eyes fluttered open before she continued sucking her tiny fist.

“Perfect.”  Jack leaned down.  “Welcome to the universe, Hope.  Let’s give your mum a bit of rest while Uncle Jack tells you some stories about how he met your mum.”

A smile twitched the corners of Rose’s mouth as Jack lifted Hope away.  Oh but Hope was one lucky little girl.  As was her mum.  Exhaustion tugged at her mind mixed with images of the holo image and Donna’s clever revelation.  And before she fell into the abyss of rest, a thread of thought snapped into place, an answer to the problem that had eluded her for the past year. 

“Of course,” she murmured as peaceful slumber claimed her and she dreamed of flying the TARDIS, away from Earth and toward the one place in the universe that would provide her with the one person she needed most.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it ended up much longer than I thought. Next chapter is the reunion.

The Doctor bounced on his feet, shook his hands out and rolled his head.

“It’s just a test run,” Mickey reminded him checking his side arm before he holstered it.  The Doctor glared and in act of defiance and in rebellious ego pulled out his sonic and activated before re-pocketing it.  He didn’t miss Mickey’s smirk.

“If we don’t hear from you in ten minutes, we pull you back,” Pete reminded them, standing next to Malcolm Taylor whose dark hair stuck up at odd angles and his glasses sat askew on his frowning face.  The dimension canon hummed nearby.

“Understood.”  Mickey nodded his head but his gaze fixated on Jackie in a protective glass booth in the back of the lab.  The Doctor also glanced at her holding Tony in her arms as he shook a plushy TARDIS blue bear the Doctor gifted him.  Amy had her nose pressed against the glass and mouthed:   _ You promised _ .

A pang of guilt sliced between the Doctor’s shoulder blades.  Pete hadn’t just brought them to Torchwood as moral support.  The ever increasing starless sky un-nerved Pete and he kept his family close.  Not that they were any safer at Torchwood.

Amy’s nightmares had continued as the stars disappeared, filling the sky with swaths of black.  By this time, months had passed and the population had noticed the changes.  A quiet terror filled the streets.  The media had predicted the end of everything or some governmental conspiracy.  Some social media theories were even more amusing to the Doctor, of giant black holes devouring everything to the Nothing from the movie  _ The Neverending Story _ making its way to Earth.

In truth, The Doctor didn’t know what caused the stars to blink out of existence or radically alter the cosmic ebb and flow in this universe.  Although he might have a few theories of what could damage universal walls and restructure reality, those ideas couldn’t be proven while he was stuck on this parallel Earth.

All he knew for certain was Amy would wake up screaming right before the next star system disappeared.  And his presence was the only way to pull her out of a fear induced catatonic state.  He had tried telepathy to see what terrified her but her mind existed in an odd state of chaos and perpetual terror from some dark figure with a guttural snicker that raised even his hackles.

He needed his TARDIS and Rose in the TARDIS with him and away from whatever was wreaking havoc.  Rose would help him solve this, see what he was missing and maybe even somewhere in the recesses of her mind, have a remnant from Bad Wolf that might hold the answer.  That terrified him more than whatever lurked in Amy’s nightmares.

Thus he and Mickey were prepared to hurl themselves through the Void to find her.  And now it was up to his team lead by Malcolm to see he and Mickey made it in once piece.

“Ready?” the Doctor asked Mickey.

“No, but what else is new?” Mickey teased.

The Doctor held up his fist and Mickey bumped it with his own.  “No worries, we’re just taking a little jaunt through the Void.  Easy peasy and we’ll be back in oh say fifteen minutes.”

“You said ten,” Pete reminded him.

“Ten, fifteen, seventy, all the same!”  The Doctor grinned and tugged at his ear, hiding the tightness in his chest and the flutter of uncertainty which for a Time Lord was usually either terrifying or exhilarating or a combination of both.

“Do you really want me to tell that to Jackie?”  Pete arched a brow.  The Doctor winced.  Pete knew all the buttons to punch and all the best threats.

“Everything will be fine and we’ll be back before you know it.  Just give us enough time to have a look around.  If you don’t hear from us, hit the recall.” The Doctor glanced down at the lemon tart like device hanging around his neck, avoiding what he knew would be a pointed look from Pete.

“Ten minutes.”  Pete’s voice remained firm.  “I know you want this to work but I won’t risk your lives.  Torchwood is counting on you and--”  Pete paused.  “You’re family.  We Tylers protect our own.”

The Doctor nodded a smile curling up the corner of his mouth.  This Pete may not be Rose’s biologic father but they were cut from the same gene pool nonetheless.

Mickey blew out a nervous breath and bumped against his shoulder.  The Doctor and Mickey walked to the white launch pad in front of the cannon.  “Malcolm, on the count of three, two one--”

#

The Doctor and Mickey disappeared.  Pete released a breath he’d been holding and walked over to Malcolm.  “Did it work?”

“Yes, they are no longer located in our universe…I believe,” Malcolm stuttered.

“Malcolm, I need more than what you believe.”  Pete’s stomach twisted.  He trusted the Doctor, mostly.  He’d watch the man, well alien, suffer in a way he knew all too well.  Loss and grief, it appeared, transcended species.  Both of them experienced it in the same gut wrenching way.

Pete glanced over his shoulder and nodded at Jackie.  She frowned and clung to Tony.  Pete wished he could do the same.  The uncertainty of what was attacking their universe and altering the cosmos scared him more than he admitted.  His gaze moved to Amy, his newest addition.

A warmth spread in his chest at the family he thought he’d never have.  Even after two years, it still amazed him how much his world had changed.  Loss hadn’t destroyed him.  It toughened him, pushed him to work harder and appreciate those around him.  But finding this new Jackie and building a family with her, prevented that tough exterior from controlling him, made him strong in an emotional way through a deep love and commitment to fight for her and their family. 

Now he was a father to Tony and Amy.  It terrified him some nights, especially now with the universe going to hell.  But Jackie curled up next to him drove him onward and each morning when he watched the children at breakfast, little Tony tossing cereal across the table; or the Doctor coaxing Amy out of whatever trauma she’d endured, reminded him what he fought for.

“Malcolm, can you track them?  The Doctor said we’d have that capability.”  Pete leaned on the counter staring at equipment he barely understood.

“Not track on a map per say, just identify a universe.  The Doctor has numbered over three thousand five hundred twenty six possible universes.”  Malcolm adjusted his glasses.  “He used the successful communication with his ship to identify universe four hundred eight as his prime universe.”

“And that’s where he’s landed?”

“It would appear so based on this rather rudimentary graphic.”

Pete looked down at swirls of colored lines that resembled spirals layered over each other.  A tiny red dot appeared on one that was bright yellow on the perimeter of one of the spirals.  At least that was positive.  Now all they could do was wait. 

After ten minutes passed and Pete had paced the length of the room he turned to Malcolm.  “Call them.  I want confirmation.”

Malcolm picked up the mobile the Doctor had programmed with a special amplified signal and dialed.  He nervously shifted as Pete paced behind him.  “Well?”

“Uh they aren’t…I mean to say…it went to voice mail.”

“Voice mail?” Pete scrubbed at this face, a burning knot forming in his stomach.  “Why the hell wouldn’t they answer?”  A chill settled over him as Malcolm stared silently at his monitor. 

“The fact the mobile survived the trip and is functioning is positive yes?  You can confirm that, at least?” Pete demanded.

“Well, yes,” Malcolm stuttered.  “I mean it is likely we would not make a connection if they met some--”  Malcolm didn’t finish.  “I mean, I am able to ping their jumpers and both responded.”

“Good,” Pete acknowledged and stared at the sterile white launch pad in front of the main dimension cannon portion which Pete always thought looked ominous.  Multiple glass tubes, glowed green and yellow nodules pulsed under a black metal casing spanning half the enormous lab.  The man sized cylinder ended in a glowing orb resembling a plasma globe.

He looked at his watch.  “Fifteen minutes,” he muttered.  His heart slammed in his chest and he broke out in a nervous sweat.  He didn’t like being this out of control or relying on technology that left his skin prickling with worry.  “Malcolm, hit the auto recall.”

“But the Doctor said it might be--”

“I don’t care!”  Pete’s face flushed and he pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes.  Shouting at Malcolm wouldn’t solve the gut twisting worry.  “Just do it.”  Malcolm nodded and hit a few switches.  The cannon glowed and hummed.  Nothing happened.

“Malcolm?”  Pete walked over as Malcolm collapsed inward.

“I don’t know.  It should work.  It’s like something blocked it but that’s not possible.”

“Could the Doctor do it?”  Pete hated to ask but he knew the Doctor was reckless. 

How many times had he found him wandering the roof of Torchwood tower, a dark, alien look in his eyes that stole Pete’s breath and left him shaking?  Yet, the Doctor always seemed to come back to himself when Pete spoke his name.  It was an odd thing to see, almost like a shuddering inhale and he was the Doctor Pete knew…Rose’s Doctor. 

Pete didn’t want to find out what he’d become if anything happened to Rose or their child.  He’d vowed to keep the alien grounded even if he had to lock the brilliant man away and pound sense into him.  He hoped this wasn’t another unhinged Doctor episode.

“Well?” Pete demanded.

“Yes, I believe he could but sir, he would never without good reason.”

Pete snorted.  “His reasons aren’t always sound.”

“He wouldn’t do anything to hurt Mickey or Mrs. Tyler,” Malcolm defended.  Pete looked over to where Jackie sat, Amelia and her playing with Tony. 

“No, he wouldn’t, at least not on purpose.”

Malcolm continued to call Mickey on his mobile and hit the automatic recall function.  Several of his assistants gathered to discuss the problem.  Pete pinched the bridge of his nose and walked to the opposite side of the room not wanting to tell Jackie what was going on but knowing she’d figure it out.  So he avoided looking at her and stared at the white wall his family had come to both curse and bless. 

Hours later, the cannon turned on by itself and in a flash of white light, the Doctor and Mickey fell forward onto their knees, clothing smoking and ripped with faces covered in soot.

“Where the hell have you been and why didn’t you answer?” Pete demanded.

“Hi Pete, you’re never gonna believe this,” The Doctor answered and coughed, rubbing at his blackened cheek.

“The bloody Titanic!” Mickey spit out.  “Or the space version of it.”  Mickey sat back on the floor as medical techs raced over to him.

“Just a bit of smoke inhalation,” the Doctor advised.  “A bit of oxygen and some water should help.”  He ran a hand through his hair and picked out ash, scrunching up his face and flicking it away.

Hot anger seared through Pete.  He wasn’t sure what he was more furious with, the circumstances or the Doctor’s possible interference.

“Titanic?  Explain and you better have a fucking good reason why you didn’t answer our calls.”

“Mobile wouldn’t work,” Mickey coughed out and accepted a bottle of water.  “Something to do with what this homicidal nutter did on the ship.  All communications were dead.”

“Max Capricorn, ship owner,” the Doctor added.  “He planned a little insurance fraud and you know, planetary destruction and genocide by crashing his ship into the Earth and blowing up everyone.”  The Doctor stood up brushing off his suit coat and accepting a bottle of water.  “He set up a jamming device so neither the crew or passengers could call for help.  Also disrupted our mobiles and transport.”

“So you weren’t in the right universe?” Pete asked, warily watching the Doctor.

“Right universe, wrong place.”  The Doctor swished water in his mouth and swallowed.

“The Doctor’s right,” Mickey affirmed, pulling off an oxygen mask.  “From what we found on the ship records, looked like the right Earth and time period.  And he said he felt his TARIDS.  Don’t know how we ended up on the ship though.”  Mickey wiped at his face.  “We stopped the homicidal nutter and saved the planet.”  Mickey’s shoulders slumped and he appeared anything but excited.  From what Pete knew about Mickey, he usually had an adrenalin rush after a mission, slapping backs and joking about going for a drink. 

“Micks, you okay?” Pete asked.

“Fine.”  Mickey’s voice was toneless and he stared vacantly at the cannon, a tech shoving the oxygen mask back on his face.  He coughed and lifted the mask.  “Doctor, we couldn’t just--”

“No,” the Doctor answered in a quiet tone.  “It’s not a time travel device and even if it was, we couldn’t cross our own time lines.  I’m sorry Mickey, I’m so sorry.  You know she’s still out there somewhere, just not the Astrid you knew.”

“Astrid?” Pete asked and watched Mickey swallow hard.  The Doctor squeezed Mickey’s shoulder. 

“She wanted you to live and she saved everyone.”  Mickey nodded at the Doctor’s soft tone. 

“I need a shower.”  Mickey stood and shoved away the medical technicians.  He walked out of the room ignoring Jackie calling his name.

“What the hell have you done?” Jackie demanded storming over to the Doctor, holding Tony blowing raspberries.

“I…it’s complicated.”  The Doctor watched Mickey go and turned to Malcolm.  “It worked, just not exactly as planned.  I need to refine our--”

“Stop.”  Pete grabbed his shoulder.  “You’ve been gone four and half hours.”  The Doctor nodded.

“Right, not exactly ten minutes.”  He pinched the bridge of his nose.  “I need to recalculate--”

“No, you need to take a break and that’s what’s gonna happen,” Jackie insisted.  “You can explain to us over tea.  Pete, get himself cleaned up and out the door.  I’ll deal with Mickey.  Come on Amy.”  Amy glared at the Doctor once and followed Jackie in a march that clearly mimicked the Jackie Tyler is in charge mode.

“Pete, I just need to--”  His words trailed off as Pete crossed his arms.

“You disappeared with no contact and you came back looking like hell.  Micks is not all right and I suspect neither are you.  We’ll start again tomorrow.”

“We may not have till tomorrow.”  The Doctor spoke in low tones, glancing at Malcolm.

“Nothing’s pointed at that yet.”  Pete laid a hand on his back.  “I know this is your life and you’re used to making the tough calls.  You want to solve this and find your family.  But you need to take a minute to process and quite frankly, I need to know what happened.  You might be the brilliant Time Lord but sometimes you need someone to tell you stop.  I’m telling you to stop.”

The Doctor shut his eyes and released a breath.  When he looked at Pete, there was a glint of the darkness Pete often saw.  “Okay, we take a break…for a while but then I need to get back to my calculations.  We’re so close, Pete.  I need to find her.”

“I know and I need you to figure this out.  My family’s on the line too.”  The Doctor nodded.

“Malcolm, do a systems check and run analysis.  I’ll be back to take a look.”  The Doctor walked silently next to Pete and a quiet, pensive Doctor worried Pete even more than stars going out.

#

“What the hell happened?” Rose demanded, cradling Hope as Jack barreled into the console room.  The TARDIS had activated the cloister bells and the time rotor pumped ominously.

“A ship nearly crashed into London.”  Jack pounded a few commands into the keyboard and stared at the monitor.  “That’s odd.”

“Yeah I got that.” Rose rocked Hope in her arms.  “Donna called and said the city’s on lockdown.  Sarah Jane and Luke are in the attic with Mr. Smith and no one can reach Martha.”  Hope hiccupped and Rose put a towel over her shoulder patting her gently on the back, wishing she could find relief for herself with a bit of spit up.

Instead, she was pacing the TARDIS with a newborn peeking out the doors toward London wondering if her friends were safe or if the world was about to blow to pieces.  She walked over and watched Gallifreyan symbols mix with English on the monitor.

“Martha can’t talk.  UNIT’s called a Code Red planetary emergency.”  Jack stepped back and clenched his jaw.  “I’ve seen ships like this come by before but they normally stay out of range and cloaked from anyone planet side.”

“Who are they?”  Rose winced as Hope burped and then squirmed in her arms.  She tossed the used flannel in a nearby bin and bit her lip at the symbols on the screen.  They seemed familiar. 

Jack cooed to Hope, a smile erasing his previous stressed expression and reached for her.  Rose smiled at how Hope reached a hand out toward Jack.  She released her to Jack who grinned broadly.

“Uncle Jack’s time princess wasn’t worried was she?”

“No, not like she was when those Vespiforms attacked.”  Rose shuddered remembering the sky filled with giant wasp creatures and how Hope screamed.  She wrapped her arms around herself.

Later, she’d learned they were sending out telepathic messages meant to terrify the humans.  Luckily for humanity, they didn’t get the full effect, not like Hope did.  Rose shook to her core at how her daughter wailed and not even the TARDIS could shield her tiny girl from all the effects.  Rose never wanted to hear her child scream like that again and firmed her resolve to stop anything or one who inflicted that kind of pain on Hope. 

“So what happened?  Did UNIT interfere?”  She turned back to the monitor and bit the tip of her finger, trying to figure out why the TARDIS kept repeating the same symbols over and over again.

“No,” Jack answered, cradling Hope.  “Cause if they did, there’d be a melted space ship all over London,” he sang in a happy tone.  “And Uncle Jack wouldn’t be able to play with his favorite baby girl.”  Hope blue bubbles and grinned.

Warmth enveloped Rose at how despite planetary emergencies, masses of weevils in the sewers beneath Cardiff or aliens run amok, Jack still made time to comfort Hope.  But Rose still needed answers.

“So if it wasn’t you and wasn’t UNIT then what stopped it from crashing?”

Jack transferred hope back to her and Rose could smell why.  Uncle Jack was happy to lend a hand, make her daughter smile but when it came to nappies, he seemed to take the duck and run approach.

“We don’t know.  Someone on board got control and averted disaster.”  He shrugged.  “Whatever it was, we’re grateful.  Speaking of planetary emergencies, I can tell you have your own emergency and I need to get back to--”

“Wait.” Rose wrinkled her nose and eyed her smelly baby before she zeroed in on the monitor.  “You said someone on board stopped it.”

“Yeah, but we have no way of telling who or what it was.”

“Get UNIT to report on universal incursions,” Rose ordered, almost breathless with excitement despite her daughter’s growing impatience with a delay in nappy replacement.

“What are you thinking?” Jack asked and then he too examined the monitor.  “You think…oh that would be so like him but why didn’t he--”  Hope’s face turned bright red and she started to cry in earnest.

“It’s him Jack.  I don’t know how or why or what went wrong.  But I think it was him and the TARDIS is trying to tell us.” She eyed the repetitive Gallifreyan symbols on the monitor.  “He’s trying to get back but something’s interfering.  We need to get to the Medusa Cascade, that spot I told you about.”  Hope screamed louder, in a more it’s time to change my nappy tone.

“Look I got to go, just confirm with UNIT and let’s get the calculations ready.  It’s time.”

“Rose you can’t.  You just had a baby seven weeks ago!”

“No time to argue!  Stinky baby!” Rose called back as she walked down the corridor.  “Just do it Jack!  It’s time.”

As she slipped into her bedroom and prepared Hope for changing, Rose’s thoughts whirled.  What if the Doctor had been on that ship?  Hope demanded attention and Rose quickly disposed of the dirty nappy while simultaneously promising herself once she found him, she would make the Doctor change nappies for the next year.  A smile bloomed on her face at the thought.

“We’re right aren’t we?” she asked hope who kicked and smiled as Rose cleaned here up.  “Daddy stopped the big exploding ship trying to get home.”  Her smile slipped.  But the Doctor hadn’t made it home.  Why?  What was getting in the way?

She remembered the TARDIS song played before Hope was born.  Something was still clawing its way through the universe, devouring stars.  Rose slipped another nappy on Hope, one with pictures of shooting stars all over it.

“He needs help.”  She picked up Hope and held her close, brushing a kiss on the top of Hope’s head.  “It’s in the Medusa Cascade.  I’m sure that’s where we find him.  You’re daddy told me stories about that place, how he visited when he was young and how Time Lords didn’t like going there because it had instabilities in space time that wreaked havoc with TARDIS navigation.”

Rose smiled and caressed a coral wall.  “But not our girl.  She’s clever and been around a while.”

 Rose sat in a swing hanging in a corner of the bedroom.  “I don’t know what we’ll find, sweetheart.  But I know we have to go, have to try or we may lose everyone.”  She looked down at Hope who stared at her with a eyes that seemed filled with a sober intelligence no baby should have.

“That’s who we are.  We make the hard decisions, stand up for what’s right when everyone turns away.  You and me, we’ll do this together and we’ll find him.  I  promise you.”

#

“This is it.”  The Doctor thumped the monitor while Malcolm hovered nearby, dragging a hand through his hair.

“You said that last time and it wasn’t--”  Malcolm trailed off at the Doctor’s piercing gaze.  The Doctor knew he should temper his annoyance but he didn’t need any more reminders of his last jump that landed him and Mickey on a Sontaran ship approaching Earth.

They’d quickly sussed out how the Sontaran’s planned to eliminate humanity and convert the Earth to a breeding world.  Fury still burned deep in the Doctor’s chest when he thought of how the Sontarans threatened not just the entire human species but his family. 

Even Mickey didn’t interfere when he used Sontaran technology against them.  If they wanted war, he’d give them their war.  The only hesitation was thinking of Rose and what she’d think and he’d hesitated giving them one last chance.  They chose to attack and the Doctor ended them right before he and Mickey jumped back to the parallel world.

A coldness seeped through him.  Now he felt nothing.  He ignored Mickey’s questions and focused on calculations and why they couldn’t reach Rose.  Why had they been diverted yet again.

“Here.”  Mickey shoved a Styrofoam cup of tea at him.  With a sigh, he accepted it and stepped away from the equipment.

“You’re pushing too hard,” Mickey admonished.

“I doubt the terrified population of Earth would agree with you.”  He sucked in a breath at the scalding hot tea.  “We don’t have much time left.  I feel it, a shadow hovering nearby and the timelines growing cold, snapping apart.”  He shuddered at the shiver coursing through him and blew on his tea to warm himself.  It didn’t.  Nothing could erase the sense of death on the horizon.

“You won’t figure this out if you don’t step back.  I mean you may be a Time Lord, but you’re still a man trying to save the multiverse and that’s a hella lot of pressure on top of trying to find--”  He stopped and refused to flinch from the Doctor’s gaze.

“That may work on Malcolm but not me.” Mickey crossed his arms.  “I know what’s at stake.  So put old dark and spooky away and solve this.  What’s different?  What’s causing us to bounce around?”

The Doctor blinked at Mickey as the words sank in.  “Bounce around…I’m so thick!”  He shoved the tea at Mickey who took it wincing as some sloshed on his hand.  “Bounced around!  That’s it!   We’re struggling to enter that universe because of interference!”

Mickey stood next to the Doctor while Malcolm screamed, “Yes!” and began shoving papers aside.

“Yeah, so what’s bouncing us around?”  Mickey set the cup down on the counter.

“There!  Ha!”  The Doctor pointed at the screen. 

“I don’t see it,” Mickey leaned in closer.

“Of course you don’t!  You’re human.”  The Doctor tapped a few keys and blew up the graphic representations of the multi verse he’d mapped.  “See how there’s two yellow colored diagrams on top of each other?”

“Looks like one diagram to me.”  Mickey squinted and cocked his head.

“It’s not.  There’s two universes on top of each other.  See the color differentiation?”  Mickey shook his head.  The Doctor sighed.  “Here.” He aimed his sonic and amplified the image to show the pixels.

“Two universe,” Mickey acknowledged.  “But we’ve landed in the right one.  You said you could feel the TARDIS.”

“Yes, yes, yes but this universe is still affecting our Prime.  Something is squeezing them together.”

“Whatever is causing the stars to disappear?” Malcolm hypothesized.

“Very good, Malcolm!”  The Doctor slapped Malcolm’s back causing the other man to grin.

“Right, so we’ve got some big bad mushing universes together for what reason?” Mickey asked.

“It doesn’t matter.”  The Doctor pocketed his sonic.  “We know enough now to make adjustments and track the TARDIS.”

“It does matter if we’re about to face whatever it is.  We’ve got to be prepared.”

“We’ll have the TARDIS.  That’s all we’ll need to identify it.”  The Doctor’s exuberance diminished as did his elations at finally being able to find Rose. 

This was not the Sontarans or Daleks doing this.  This kind of technology was beyond most intelligent species except one…and he’d locked them away.  Or did he?  The doubt picked at the back of his mind drawing him back to the Time Lord he was during the war…a killer…the one who used the Moment to lock his people and their technology away saving all of creation.

“Doctor?”  The Doctor turned to Pete, not having heard him walk in.  Jackie, Tony and Amy were with him.   “We can’t wait any longer.  An entire constellation disappeared this time…just blinked out and--”  Pete looked down at Amy, clinging to his side.

The Doctor could see terror shimmering in her eyes, her face pale and drawn more than ever before. 

“It’s coming,” Amy whispered and ran to the Doctor who caught her in his arms and held her tight against his chest. 

“It’ll be all right.  I’ll stop it.  I promise.”

“It’s going to eat me,” Amy mumbled into his neck in a broken voice.  His Amelia, his strong, stubborn girl who survived a crack in the time and space and stood up to bullies at school now shook in his arms.

“No, I won’t let it,” he promised in a fierce guttural voice.

“Please take me with you,” she begged, fingers digging into his shoulders.  He set her down and knelt before her.

“It’s not safe.  This trip is going to take me to Rose but I can’t say where or how.  We could end up in the middle of a battle or a temporal storm.”  He tucked a piece of hair behind her ear as she glared at him.  “I won’t risk you.  You’re too important.”

“I’m not safe here.”

The Doctor looked up at Pete who had deep circles beneath his eyes but still radiated strength.  “Pete will keep you safe even if I’m not here.”  He looked back at Amy.  “He’ll keep all of you safe.”

“He’s not you,” Amy whinged, tears falling down her cheeks.

“Well, no but he’s pretty good for a human.  Defender of the Earth is in his blood.”  The Doctor stood.  “No one is as safe as they are with a Tyler and I should know.  A Tyler saved my life over and over again and it’s time I returned the favor.”  He cupped her cheek before nodding at Pete.

“I’ll look after all of them.”

“Doctor.”  He couldn’t resist Jackie Tyler.  She walked over with Tony and hugged him.  His hearts slammed as he held her and swallowed down the affection and respect for the woman who had come to represent what was best in humanity to him. 

“You tell her--” Jackie’s voice hitched.  “Tell her I love her and I’m so proud and you promise to take care of them.”

“I promise,” he said in a strangled voice before he turned away and walked over to Malcolm and confirmed the coordinates before he made his way to the launch pad next to Mickey.

“Let’s do this.”  Mickey nodded and the Doctor looked once more at Amy biting her lip, appearing so unsure of herself.  He smiled softly at her hoping to convey assurance before inhaling a deep breath.  The equipment lit up, buzzed and the hairs raised on his arms as pressure built to thrust him through the void.  Suddenly, a body impacted him as tiny arms wrapped around his waist.

“Amy!” Pete’s voice shouted.

“Not without me!” she insisted and shut her eyes as the howling of the void blasted around them. 

The Doctor wrapped his arms tightly around her and squeezed her against his body, gritting his teeth against the tearing forces of the void, determined to protect her.  Icy cold stabbed at him and the terrifying trickle of energy grasped at his skin.  He squeezed her tighter as they tumbled into the next universe and crashed into the ground.

“Bloody hell,” Mickey moaned, hands planted on the ground as the Doctor knelt on the ground and squinted at his surroundings.

“Amy, you all right?” Mickey asked as Amy lay on the ground before them, staring up blankly.

“There are no stars,” she stated in a steady voice.

The Doctor crawled over to her, checking her pulse which raced against his fingers.  “I told you to stay with Pete!  You could have been killed…or worse.”  She blinked and stared him in the eyes.

“You promised to take me with you,” she retorted in a voice not the least bit sorry before she stared up at the sky again.

“Yes after I sorted the big bad that’s giving you nightmares.”  The Doctor sighed and stared down at his stubborn companion, ginger hair loose and cascading down her shoulders evidence of her fiery demeanor. 

“I’m safer with you.  Where are we?” She asked as the Doctor helped her to stand and she brushed off her jeans and ruffled shirt.

The Doctor scanned their surroundings now more focused and his jaw dropped.  Where were they indeed.  Piles of debris stacked around them, twisted metal, bits of organic matter and some things he swore looked familiar but it was impossible.

“Doctor, we’re not on Earth.”  Mickey unzipped his coat and unclasped the holster on his weapon, nervously surveying the area.

“No, this isn’t Earth.”  The Doctor smacked his tongue against the tang in the air and looked up at the dark sky striated with glowing green lights.  “I’d say we landed in the adjacent universe.”

“So we missed again?” Mickey asked, whipping around as the sound of crinkled metal clanked as if falling off a pile.

“No, I don’t think so.  I think we’re exactly where we need to be.”

“It stinks,” Amy noted with a wrinkle in her nose.  “Like something died.”

A shiver coursed through the Doctor.  Yes, there was an air of decay, a staleness and his time sense recoiled at a wrongness…maybe a familiar wrongness… He smiled.  “This way!”  He grabbed Amy’s hand and began racing through the junk piles followed by Mickey.

“Hold on, we gotta let Pete know!” Mickey shouted.

“When we find them!” the Doctor called over his shoulder, his heart racing as a familiar sound echoed across the surface of this seemingly devoid of life world.  He slowed around one mountainous pile and Mickey ran into his back.

“Watch it!,” Mickey warned.  “We don’t know if we’re alone.”  Mickey protectively moved stand on Amy’s other side.

“Oh, we’re not alone.”  The Doctor walked over to one of the mountainous piles and plucked a grapefruit sized cube with circular symbols off a pile.  An avalanche of metal parts and bits and bobs rained down around them.

“Impossible,” the Doctor noted bringing the item up eye level.

“What is it?” Amy asked peering up.

“It’s something that should not exist here or anywhere.”

“That’s your language isn’t?” Mickey nodded his head at the item.

“Yes, it’s part of a TARDIS matrix stabilizer.  But what’s it doing here?”

“Shouldn’t we get to Rose first?” Amy huffed.

“Quite right.”  The Doctor pocketed the part in his dimensional transcendental pocket and eyed a few other pieces before they continued on their way.  He’d find Rose and solve this mystery later.  But the hairs on the back of his neck prickled as he passed more and more items that were a little too familiar.  This wasn’t random.

#

“Rose please reconsider this.  Let’s at least leave Hope with Sarah Jane,” Jack pleaded.  “I’d feel better in case something goes wrong.

“No, Hope stays with me.”  Rose smiled down at her daughter, strapped into a baby sling around her chest.  “We’ll find the Doctor together and not risk returning to find my baby girl is twenty one and run off with some good lucking physicist or you know has conquered the Earth while mummy was off finding daddy.”  She smiled as Hope grinned.

“I’m a much better pilot than that.”  Jack sidled over and wiggled his fingers at hope.  “And baby girl wouldn’t take over the world now would she?  Noooo cause Uncle Jack would have to stop her.”

“I’m not risking leaving her behind, Jack.  Besides, Sarah Jane doesn’t need any more alien kids drawing attention to her house.  And we’ve got Martha and Donna to help us.”  She nodded at her friends who huddled nervously near the console.

“We’ll be here for you,” Martha promised and bit her lip.  “But we don’t know what we’ll find and you’re still not one hundred percent recovered.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to wait a few more days?” Donna asked.  “I mean I’m all for taking this ship out for a spin but not if you need more time to rest.”

“We don’t have more time.”  Rose walked over and patted the console and the time rotor raised in response.  “It’s why UNIT didn’t fuss when we asked for Martha.  They know the universal wall situation is getting worse and they don’t want a repeat of Canary Wharf.”

Martha, in her black UNIT uniform nodded.  “Commander Magambo felt better with UNIT playing a part of the solution.”

“She just doesn’t like me, does she?” Jack teased before walking over to the opposite side of the console.

“UNIT doesn’t trust anyone,” Donna noted before she wrapped an arm around Rose.  “You were there when I needed help with Lance.  And I want to be here for you and Hope.”  Rose turned and embraced Donna, Hope squealing in between them.

“Thank you, all of you.  You mean so much to me--”  Rose’s throat tightened overwhelmed with emotions.  “I couldn’t have made it this past sixteen months without you.”  Her voice choked and chest tightened.  “You mean so much more to me than friends.  You’re--”  Tears burned her eyes.  “You’re my family, our family and the only ones I trust.  I can’t ever thank you enough and I know I’m asking a lot more.”

“Oh stop it!”  Donna pulled her into her arms.  “Just you stop right there.”  Donna pulled back, her own eyes glistening.  “They day I met you was the best and worst day of my life and I wouldn’t change a thing.  Now enough with the tears, let’s go find your spaceman.”

Martha moved to her other side and squeezed her waist.  “I’m with you all the way, Rose.  I can’t wait to meet this Doctor of yours.”

“No sugar for me?” Jack teased.  Rose rolled her eyes.  “Once we find the Doctor, there will be more than enough hugs to pass around.  Besides, I wouldn’t want to make Ianto jealous.”

“Never,” Jack assured with a naughty glimmer in his eyes.  “Get strapped in.”

Rose grabbed the harness attached to the console in her assigned pilot spot.  Donna and Martha stood on either side.

“You’re sure about the Medusa Cascade coordinates?” Jack double checked.

“Yeah, there’s something there and hopefully it’s the Doctor.”

“All right, hang onto to your arses!”  They each operated their own controls on the console and the time rotor pumped as they dematerialized, wheezing and groaning in a welcoming and familiar sound to Rose.

The ship shook and jolted a few times, delighting Hope.  And then Jack cursed and everything turned pear shaped as Martha stumbled backward into the railing and Donna held on for dear life as they hurled through the vortex and landed with a metal twisting thump.

Rose’s winced at how the harness dug into her back and sides but had to admit, she was grateful for Jack installing it.  Not that Hope seemed the least bit disturbed.  She sucked on her thumb and smiled.  Rose shook her head.  “You are so mummy’s time traveling daughter.”

“We’ve landed,” Jack drew out rubbing the side of his face.

“That’s good, right?” Martha asked, wincing as she stood up.

“We’re not in the Medusa Cascade are we?” Rose didn’t need him to answer.  She had a feeling things wouldn’t work exactly as she thought.  After all that was always part of the fun of traveling through time and space.

“I’m not sure where we are,” he admitted.

“Well let’s have a look,” Donna marched over to the doors and paused.  “I’m not gonna be sucked out into space or some alien vortex or anything?”

“Jack?” Rose asked, unhooking from the harness.

“No, looks like there’s an Earth standard atmosphere and well a whole lot of debris.”

Donna opened the door.  “Oh my god, it stinks!”  She waved a hand in front of her nose.  “I mean if this is what alien smells like you can have it!”

Rose and Martha walked over next to her.  Rose winced at the pungent scent of decay but it was the piles of junk that captured her attention.  Something about the pieces of metal seemed familiar.

“Looks like we landed on a refuse planet.”  Jack peeked around them.  “Why don’t I check it out and make sure whatever lives here isn’t looking for a meal or escape route.”

“I think we should stick together,” Rose said slowly, an uneasy feeling knotting her stomach.  As much as she wanted to find the Doctor, something about this world was off and it wasn’t the stench of rotting garbage.

The air in the TARDIS seemed to shift and the lights dimmed.  Rose shivered wondering what the TARDIS sensed before she stepped outside.  Hope let loose an ear piercing scream.  Rose shifted her around in the sling and brushed her lips against Hope’s forehead.  “Hey now, it’s not that bad.”

“I don’t think she likes it and I can’t blame her.  First alien planet and it’s actual rubbish,” Donna commented.  Hope continued to scream and flail her tiny hands.

“If time princess ain’t happy then no one’s happy,” Jack leaned over.  “Maybe you should take her back inside.  I’ll take Martha and you and Donna can be our back up.”

Rose groaned as she stepped back inside and Hope calmed down.

“She’s spent almost her entire life so far in the TARDIS.  It makes sense she’d rather be inside.” Donna patted Rose on the shoulder.  “I could take her if you want to go exploring.”

Every motherly instinct twisted in her gut at the thought of leaving Hope.  But other instincts, the Doctor finding thud, thud, thud, pushed her to go outside.  Rose bit her lip and looked down at Hope as she rocked side to side.  “I’ve got to find your daddy.  I know you’re not happy but none of us will be if I don’t find him.”  Hope blinked, her face pinched and she made an unhappy whine.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart.  Aunt Donna will take care of you.”  Rose eyed Donna.  “You’re sure you don’t mind?”

“Of course not!  Hope and I will have a lovely time not getting stinky alien trash all over us and when her Daddy gets back, he can take us to a proper alien world with shopping and pretty sunsets.  Won’t he?” Donna slipped Hope from Rose. 

An emptiness carved in her heart as Rose watched Donna make faces at Hope.  It wasn’t that Rose didn’t trust Donna, she did implicitly with her and Hope’s life.  The problem lay in guilt at leaving her baby and worrying she was making a selfish decision.  Rose lived in a constant state of anxiety she wasn’t a good enough mother or was doing it all wrong.

Reluctantly she slipped off her baby sling and helped it on Donna.  Tears welled and Rose could barely swallow.

“You don’t have to do this,” Martha gently reminded her.  “But you know, they’re in the safest place in the universe.”  Rose nodded and brushed one more kiss on Hope’s head.

“Be good for Aunt Donna.  Mummy--”  Her voice caught.  “Mummy will be back soon.”  Before she changed her mind, Rose backed out of the TARDIS and shut the door.

“Okay?” Jack asked, a hand on the small of her back.

“No, but I need to do this.  Let’s go.  The sooner we find him, the sooner we can get back.”

With Jack and Martha on either side of her, they marched forward on the oddly spongy, trash laden ground.  Rose gazed up at the sky and a dull ache pounded in her head.  “There’s no stars.”

“Could be the atmosphere’s dirty.”

“It’s safe though, right?” Martha asked.  “You said it was like Earth.”

“Yeah, it’s breathable but you know, even Earth has smog.”  He paused and frowned.  “Some of this stuff looks familiar.”  Jack bent down and picked up what appeared to be a mangled version of his Vortex Manipulator.  They examined their surroundings, mountainous piles of metal, ship parts and Rose only knew what, but she had to agree with Jack, something about it felt familiar.

“I don’t like this.  All of this junk it’s not your typical refuse.”  Jack pocketed the manipulator

“Well it’s alien.  I mean we’re on an alien planet,” Martha responded, brows furrowed as she looked up at the green glowing sky again.  “Really alien.”

“No, this debris, it’s familiar--” he drew out.

“Jack,” Rose spoke slowly, cold seeping down her spine as items tumbled down a pile and an eerie prickle tickled the back of her neck.

“I know.  We’re not alone.  He brushed his hand against his gun just as four people walked toward them.

“Wooolllfff!” At tall woman in a shabby Victorian gown and wild black hair rushed over and hugged Rose.  Warily Rose returned her enthusiastic greeting even as Jack clenched his jaw, ready to take action.  A familiar scent surrounded the woman, like spice, metallic tang and something that left Rose warm inside.

The woman pulled away and cupped Rose’s face.  “My wolf always or is that forever?”  She cocked her head to the side before facing Jack.

“Oh pretty ugly tangled up in blue!”  She threw herself at Jack who smiled as he received her attention.  She yanked him down as if to kiss him but bit his chin.

“Hey!” Jack admonished as the woman’s companions yanked her back.

“Sorry Idris can be a bit excitable.  Welcome, strangers. Lovely. Sorry about the mad person!” 

Rose eyed the older man who looked like he fit in with the trash planet, his skin dirty, clothing torn and old in some old Earth military type of dress.  Far more interesting than the other woman next to him, was the Ood off to the side, blinking its eyes and holding its communicator ball.

“Right,” Jack drew out and arched a brow at Rose who shrugged.  Wasn’t like she hadn’t met a few odd people in her travels and so far they seemed harmless…just odd.

“So biting huh?” Jack asked rubbing his chin.

“Biting's excellent. It's like kissing, only there's a winner.” Idris grinned in glee as the Ood clamped onto her arm and yanked her backwards.

“Sorry, my dove. She's off her head. They call me Auntie.”  The other woman, dressed in clothing that had seen better days but also seemed Earth like in a retro way with the hat she wore over her matted brown hair, its rose embellishment drooping and dirty.

“And I'm Uncle. I'm everybody's Uncle,” the man exclaimed with an oddly disturbing if not calculated smile.  “Sorry about Idris.  She's doolally.”  He tapped at his temple and rolled his eyes.  Rose turned her attention back to Idris, her suspicions growing by the minute.

“No, I'm not doolally,” Idris retorted.  “I'm, I'm. It's on the tip of my tongue.” She shrugged off her Ood companion and rolled her shoulders, shaking her head.  “I've just had a new idea about kissing. Come here, you,”  She lunged for Jack who stepped back and the Ood again grabbed onto her arm.

“My thief will be very angry or is that was or is?  Tenses are so strange.”  She shook her head and Rose experienced a pull like a string attached to her chest drawn to the odd woman who winked at her before refocusing on Jack.

“It means the smell of dust after rain.”  She nodded at Jack.

“What does?” he asked slowly and glanced at Rose.

“Petrichor,” Idris answered and frowned.

“Maybe I can help?” Martha suggested stepping forward and waved hello.  “Dr. Martha Jones.”  She looked at Idris being held back by the Ood.  “She looks like she needs help.”

“Oh no!” Auntie assured with a wave of her hand in the air.  “Idris just needs a rest.”

“Rest. Yes, yes. Good idea,” Idris agreed  “I'll just see if there's an off switch.”  She fainted in the Ood’s arms and he dropped her to the ground in a lump.

“Is that it? She dead now. So sad,” Uncle said in an unconcerned voice and nudged Idris with his boot.

“No, she’s still breathing.”  Martha knelt by Idris and took her pulse and felt her skin.  “Steady pulse, skin clammy though.  I really should take a closer look.”

“Nephew, take Idris somewhere she cannot bite people,” Uncle directed to the Ood.

“Wait, Martha’s a Doctor.  She can help,” Rose insisted.  She really didn’t care for Uncle or Auntie.  In fact this whole encounter rubbed her the wrong way.  Maybe it was her overprotective mother instincts or maybe it went deeper but a slow anger was building. 

This planet was wrong and so were these people.  Normally she didn’t mind that but there was a universal crisis and her daughter was in the middle of all of this.  Her tolerance verged on nonexistent.  And it was time to get down to business.

“Look, sorry about Idris or if we’ve intruded.”  Rose crossed her arms and Jack shifted closer to her.  “We’re looking for someone who might have landed here by mistake.”

“No one here but, me Auntie, Nephew and House.”

“House?” Jack asked.  “Who is House?”

Rose’s hackles raised at how the group reacted.  She reached for Martha’s hand who returned her grip. 

“House is all around you, my sweets,” Auntie answered. “You are standing on him. This is the House. This world. Would you like to meet him?”

“Yeah, we would, thanks,” Rose answered and glanced once back at the TARDIS.

“It’s okay.  They’re safe.” Martha promised.

“I know.”  Rose swallowed hard.  That was a lie.  She didn’t know if any of them were safe.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two more chapters after this...I hope LOL. This is sort of running away from me.

“I don’t like this,” Jack murmured as he, Rose and Martha followed their hosts through the broken bits of detritus on this alien world.

“It’s creepy,” Martha agreed.  “And there’s something about Idris that seems off.  Do you think she’s human?”

“No,” Rose answered without hesitation. 

“How can you tell?” Martha asked.

“Nothing here is what it seems,” Jack answered before Rose. 

“Yeah, everything seems slightly wrong.”  Rose rubbed her upper arms, glad for her blue leather coat.  “It’s not just the smell or the piles of broken parts or even the weird glowing green sky.  I just…I can’t put my finger on it but it’s like we’re in a different reality and nothing feels real or it’s--”

“A different universe,” Jack answered slowly and zeroed in on their hosts.  Rose’s breath caught. 

“The universal walls were weakened.” Rose slowed and glanced around with more interest.

“That’s not good.”  Martha shifted closer to Rose.  “Do you still think the Doctor’s here?”

“I think he could be,” Rose admitted.  “Maybe this universe was why he couldn’t ever connect with us?  Maybe it was interfering somehow and it’s sort of a meeting ground.”

“The TARDIS knew,” Jack agreed.  “She brought us here to find him.”

“I wouldn’t be surprise after everything I’ve seen.”  Martha nodded her head.  “Maybe this is how we solve what’s weakening the walls and erasing stars.”

They approached an old, crash landed cargo ship.  Jack whistled.  “Haven’t seen one of these in a while.  Fifty first century energy trawler or at least…it was.”  Uncle motioned them inside and again Rose’s muscles clenched with wariness.  She did not like this Uncle person.

“Jack.”  Rose grabbed his arm as her skin prickled with energy after they entered the ship.

“I got us covered,” he assured and patted the blaster hidden beneath his coat.

“I knew you’d come!” Idris shouted, hands gripping bars of a prison they passed.

“She needs help,” Martha reminded Uncle.

“Oh she’s fine and really it won’t be long now until we’re all kaput.”  He smiled and nodded.  “House is this way.”

“Kaput, Gesundheit!  Allonsy!” Idris repeated.  “But not my wolf.  She’s going to see the wizard and live happily never after until…oh but when she is very angry not even a storm can stop her.  I like rain, you know.”

“We need to meet this House,” Jack said, eyeing Idris.  “Then we can deal with the crazy lady and get back to the TARDIS.”

“I don’t think she’s crazy.”  Rose met Idris brown eyed gaze and warmth spread in her chest.  She swore a song played in her head and voice chimed  _ you know me _ .

“Jack’s right,” Martha said next to Rose jarring her away from Idris.  “We need to get back to Donna and Hope.”

“I like hope,” Idris commented.  “She’s brilliant and sometimes reverses the neutron flow.”  She paused and bit the tip of her finger.  “Or is that will? Tenses are confusing.”

Rose left reluctantly glancing back at Idris who wiggled her fingers at her.  Uncle led them to a grating where steam rose amidst a green glow.

“House!” he announced with arms held wide.  Auntie and Nephew stood nearby.  Rose didn’t want to be near that grating.  That horrible itchy feeling at the back of her head, the one that usually meant run was nonstop.  Her chest tightened.

“It’s nice to meet you, House,” Rose said cautiously. “But we really need to be off.  You see I’ve got to find--”

“Rose!”  Her breath caught at the masculine voice and across the room she met the brown eyed gaze of her pin stripe suited Doctor.

She vaguely heard Uncle mumble, “More visitors.”

“Doctor,” she breathed out and raced across the long room as he raced toward her.

#

The Doctor, Mickey and Amy had wandered for one hour thirty six minutes and twenty two seconds.  All of them were cranky, tired and covered in whatever muck hung in the air of this world.  The only thing driving the Doctor forward was the brief telepathic connection to his TARDIS.

He’d raced with his companions climbing over mounds of debris seeking out what happened to his ship.  That tantalizing and tortuous telepathic tease burned across his mind until he ground his teeth.

“Can you slow down a bit?” Mickey asked.  “Amy’s done for.”

“Am not!” Amy retorted, breathing heavy.  Quieter she asked Mickey, “Is he always like this?”

“Pretty much.  Running’s not even the hard part.”

“Enough blogging!” the Doctor snapped and zeroed in on a wrecked ship and the slight echo of voices.  “This way.”  He marched forward, keeping aware of his companions plodding steps until they reached the ship and he used his sonic to loosen some metal and peel back an old escape hatch.

Ignoring their grumbles, he climbed in and his hearts beat double time.  “Rose.”  One utter of her name was all it took to get Mickey’s attention.  He pulled out his mobile and sent a text alerting Pete. 

The Doctor ceased paying attention to either Mickey or Amy only focusing on the soft tone of Rose’s voice until he burst into a large chamber.  He repeated her name inflecting his voice with every bit of longing, desire and joy beating in his hearts. 

His feet pounded across the warped metal floor uncaring who or what was in his way.  He tripped to a stop as Rose caught his arms to steady him.

“Hello,” he said softly, taking her in, the scent of her floral shampoo, the blue of her coat and…  “The baby?” His words strangled as he stared at her now flat abdomen.

“Yeah you missed the big event.” Roses voice cracked.  “Doctor I need--”  He didn’t give her time to finish yanking her against him, his lips seeking hers out, needing to taste her, feel her warmth against his and imprint himself onto her.

She softened and her arms wrapped around him, finger nails grazing his scalp in a way he fantasized about for the past two years.  She nipped his bottom lip and his tongue slipped across hers until he drank in the essence that was Rose.  A wolf whistle and cough interrupted them.

Rose parted from him flushed and smiling softly.  “Guess we better solve the universal crisis first and then you and Hope can meet and well--”  She trailed off, fluttering her eyelashes.

“Universal crisis, right. You named her Hope?” he asked as her meaning sank in.  It had been so long since he enjoyed their subtle communication where words didn’t always need to be spoken.

“Yeah,” Rose responded in a husky voice and bit her lip as voices grumbled in the background.  “Um, Jack’s here along with Martha.  Donna’s got Hope in the you know.”  She tilted her head but didn’t finish eyeing a group behind her he hadn’t paid attention to.

Immediately suspicious, he narrowed his eyes on the bedraggled man, woman and Ood as Mickey and Amy walked up next to him.  “Yes I see.  I’m not a lone either.  I have Mickey and Amy with me.”  He waved his hand in the air next to him but his gaze never left the disheveled people behind Rose. 

“Mickey!”  He glimpsed Rose embrace Mickey before her gaze landed on Amy.

“I’m Amy.  Glad we found you.  Can we please leave now?” She crossed her arms and stuck out her bottom lip.  The Doctor smirked. 

“Forgive Amy, she’s just Amy and exactly who are your new friends?” the Doctor asked, plastering on a neutral smile.

They walked over toward Jack and who he assumed to be Martha standing next to him.

“Nice to finally meet you.” She inclined her head and smiled at Rose.  The Doctor could sense some subtle exchange between them before he eyed Jack.

“No love for me?” Jack asked eyeing him.  The Doctor snorted but a tickle of amusement mixed with his earlier flinching at Jack’s unique state.  It grated against his time sense but the Doctor couldn’t ignore how Rose stood protectively near Jack.   It was so very Rose.  And Jack had protected his family.  He owed this man a debt he would never be able to repay.

“I’m sure you get plenty of love,” the Doctor suggested with an arched brow.

“Doctor,” Rose admonished and crossed her arms. 

“Rose, I don’t think a love fest is appropriate in front of our new friends and by the way, who are they exactly?”  The Doctor directed his attention toward the oddly dressed man in the old American Civil War coat who approached them. 

“Welcome, strangers.” The man inclined his head as the Doctor sensed a very warped time line around this man and his companions.  He noticed their eyes, mismatched from other parts of them almost as if they were pieced together… A shudder struck through him and he reached for Rose’s hand.

“I’m the Doctor and you are?”  He stilled as the ground shook and a telepathic presence slammed against his consciousness.  He winced and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Blimey that smarts!”  He sucked in his breath as Rose squeezed his hand.

“Doctor?”

“No worries, I’m fine, molto bene.”  He released his breath and toed his trainer into the ground “Sentient moon err Asteroid, Planet?”  He looked up.  “Sorry what did you say your names were?”

“I’m Uncle, this here to my left is Auntie and over there is Nephew.  And this is House!”  He spread  his arms wide.

“We walk on his back, breathe his air, eat his food,” Auntie added.

“And smell its armpits,” Amy inserted wrinkling her nose as she clung to Mickey’s hand.

“And do my will,” Auntie and Uncle said in unison in a refined eerily drawling voice. “You are most welcome, travelers,”

“Oh shit,” Jack muttered and eyed Amy.  “Sorry.”

“Doctor, that voice. That's the asteroid talking?” Rose asked tightly gripping his hand.  Her presence normally tempered him but after two years separated from her, his TARDIS and now his offspring, the Doctor’s patience along with his protective nature consumed reason.  A cold sense of mistrust flushed through him and he eyed the people in front of them as potential threats.

“I see so you're like a sea urchin?” the Doctor asked. “Hard outer surface, that's the planet we're walking on. Big, squashy, oogly thing inside, that's you.”  He wore a smile that barely hid the ancient power pulsing within him.  One wrong step and this creature would find out why the Daleks once called him _Ka Faraq_ _Gatri_.

“That is correct, Time Lord,” the eerie voice channeled through Uncle and Auntie.

“Ohhh so you've met Time Lords before?”  Rose looked at him oddly and he tried to hide how badly he wanted to grab her and run back to the TARDIS so he could deal with whatever this thing wanted which he was sure was something very not good.

“Many travelers have come through the rift, like Auntie and Uncle and Nephew. I repair them when they break. “

“How very kind of you.”  A cold hardness entered his voice.

“Doctor, maybe we should--” He cut Rose off.

“Yes, you’re right Rose, we should thank House for his hospitality.  So there are Time Lords here, then?” the Doctor asked as Rose glared at him.

“Not anymore, but there have been many TARDIS on my back in days gone by.”  It all made sense now.  The Doctor had noticed piles of parts, very familiar components, some of which he’d pocketed.

“Well, I’m afraid there won't be any more after us. Last of the Time Lords here. Last TARDIS.”  Rose jammed her foot onto his until he sucked in a breath and shook his foot out.

“Ixnay on the TARDISAY,” she whispered harshly and glanced back at Jack, Marth, Mickey and Amy all who looked ready to run. 

“A pity,” House answered in its drawling voice. “Your people were so kind. Be here in safety, Doctor. Rest, feed, if you will. “

“That’s real kind but we should be on our way.  Didn’t even mean to land here really.”  Rose stepped backwards.  “Right Doctor?”

“Come now Rose, this seems like such a friendly planet.”  The Doctor did not want to alert the creature of his intentions.   “Mind if we poke around a bit?”  The Doctor had no intentions of staying but keeping his hosts diverted while they escaped…maybe with a few useful parts.

“You can look all you want. Go. Look. House loves you,” Auntie proclaimed with a huge toothy smile, no back with her own voice.

“Come on then, everyone. We're just going to, er, see the sights,” He said in a jovial tone, his mind racing as to how to get everyone to the TARDIS without causing his shifty hosts to turn on them.

As Rose and everyone backed up the way Rose, Jack and Martha entered, Idris shouted, “Thief!”

The Doctor paused and eyed a woman with a riot of dark curly hair wearing a Victorian gown.  “And this is?” he asked Rose.

“Idris,” Rose answered slowly.

“That’s me or will be or was,” Idris stated furrowing her brow, leaning against her prison bars.

“We should really get her out of here,” Martha reminded them and eyed the lock on the door.

“We all need to get out of here.”  Jack glanced at their hosts grouped together talking at the other end of the room.

“I agree with Captain Cheesecake,” Mickey added.  “Something’s off and we still got the stars going out to deal with.  Pete’s counting on us,” he reminded the Doctor.

But the Doctor was consumed with the mystery of time swirling around Idris.

“I still don’t understand who she is,” the Doctor tugged at his hair.

“Do you not know me? Just because they put me in here?” Idris asked, tutting at him.  And something tickled the back of his mind but he had to take care of other matters first.  There were too many lives to save, too many variables muddying his thoughts.

“I need my spare sonic screwdriver.  You know the one Rose, it’s tucked into the console near the atmospheric regulator.”  He arched his brow at Rose who frowned at him.

“I thought Rose had the spare sonic?” Martha asked, looking from the Doctor to Rose.  Rose stared at him hard and he met her questioning look hoping she understood his intentions.

“No,” Rose drew out frowning.  “There’s a special one.  Um a hyper sonic whatsit.  And it’s on the side with all of Jack’s notes.   Maybe the four of you could go look for it?”

“And you’re going to stay…with the Doctor?” Jack asked eyeing both of them.

“Yes, she is and we’re gonna have a nice chat with Idris here while you go and secure my sonic.”  He exchanged a hard look with Jack who sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Are you sure you need it?” Jack asked in a tight voice.

“Yes, he is.”  Rose looked at Martha.  “And you can check on my special project while you’re there and make sure she’s not fussing at Donna; and maybe offer tea to Mickey and Amy.”

“I don’t need tea,” Amy retorted.  “And you’re all rubbish at code talk.”

“I could use tea and some of them Tarillion biscuits if you got ‘em,” Mickey added, gripping Amy’s hand. “That okay, Boss?” The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief, happy to have at least one of them on his side.  He gazed down at Amy, arms crossed and lips pursed.

“You’ll like this tea, Amy.  And you can keep Mickey company.”  Amy sighed.

“Fine, I’ll babysit but you owe me.”  Amy marched away pausing to look back at the others.  “Well, don’t just stand there.  One of you must know where this thing is.”

“Are you sure she’s not a Tyler?” Jack asked and eyed Rose who narrowed her eyes at him.

“We won’t be long.  Call if you need anything,” Martha looked the Doctor up and down in warning before leaving with the others.

“I’m Mickey by the way,” Mickey walked next to Martha shaking her hand and the Doctor smiled as a particular connection snapped into place.  He did love it when time lines converged so seamlessly.

“Well?” Rose asked.  He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and they stepped up to the prison.

“Now that we have some privacy…who are you, Idris?” the Doctor asked, pulling on his glasses to get a better look at her.

“I am…I mean I’m…ohhhh,” She grasped for words. 

“We think she might be ill,” Rose answered.  “She passed out earlier and seems a bit confused.  And I…well, somehow I know her.  I mean I don’t know who she is but I know her.”  Rose tapped on the bars.

“Of course you do!  And so does my thief!” Idris agreed and bounced up and down.  “I’m in here!”

“In the cage?” the Doctor asked, unsettled at Rose’s comments.  “

“Not the cage, stupid.” Idris rolled her eyes.  “In here. They put me in here.”  She tapped her chest.  “I'm the. Oh, what do you call me? We travel. I go‑”  Idris made a wheezing sound that imitated the TARDIS.

“Oh my god!” Rose gasped.  “The TARDIS!”

“What? Noooo,”  The Doctor’s chest tightened and almost activated his respiratory bypass.  The TARDIS in a woman.  No.  “That’s impossible!”

“Time And Relative Dimension In Space. Yes, that's it. Names are funny. It's me. I'm the TARDIS.”  Idris grinned brightly at them.

“No, you're not!” the Doctor retorted barely able to comprehend the mad idea, stepping away and side eyeing the mad woman.

“Doctor, listen to her.”  Rose leaned in closer to Idris.  “I believe you.”

“Wolves are loyal.  They mate for life.  And they have puppies!” Idris stated with great glee.

“No,” the Doctor retorted, pacing in front of the bars, hands shoved in his pockets. “The TARDIS is complicated and transcendental and in my big blue box sitting out there.”  He pulled a hand out and pointed toward the junk yard.

“Yes, that's me. A Type Forty TARDIS. I was already a museum piece when you were young, and the first time you touched my console you said--”

“You were the most beautiful thing I had ever known,” the Doctor whispered in disbelief, walking up next to Rose one hand resting on the bars.

“And then you stole me. And I stole you.”

“You stole her?” Rose asked chuckling.

“I borrowed her!”  the Doctor huffed at how the two ganged up on him.

“Borrowing implies the intention to return the thing that was taken. What makes you think I would ever give you back?”  The Doctor’s mouth gaped and then he saw it, gold flecks in her eyes.

“You're the TARDIS.”

“Finally he gets it!” Idris winked at Rose.

“My TARDIS.” He stepped back and looked at Rose and pointed at Idris.  “She’s my TARDIS!”

“Yeah and I think she’d like out.  You’re sonic or mine?” Rose asked.

“Universal fuck up that’s what this is,” he muttered grumpily, pulling out his sonic.  “My TARDIS belongs in my box!” he retorted and opened the door.  Idris bounded out, hugging and kissing Rose who embraced her back.  The Doctor tugged at his ear as a wildly inappropriate heat flushed through him.

“Are all people like this?” Idris asked Rose.

“Like what?” Rose stepped back still holding Idris’ hands.

“So much bigger on the inside. I'm, oh, what is that word? It's so big, so complicated. It's so sad.”

“Why pull the living soul from a TARDIS and pop it in a tiny human head? What does it want you for?”  The Doctor stepped closer looking Idris up and down before he turned to where he’d spoken to House noting their hosts had disappeared.

“Oh, it doesn't want me. House eats TARDIS.”

“What!” Rose exclaimed and turned toward the end of the room with a look that rivalled the most harrowing Jackie Tyler gaze the Doctor had ever endured.

“What do you mean?” the Doctor asked moving protectively in front of Idris.

“I don't know. It's something I heard you say.”  Idris scratched the side of her head and blinked a few times.

“We just met and I never…ohhhhhhh temporal echoes.  In the future I say something like…oh wait!”

“Doctor, we need to do something,” Rose reminded him.

“Of course. House feeds on rift energy and TARDIS are bursting with it. And not raw, all lovely and cooked. But you can't eat a TARDIS. It would destroy you. Unless, unless--”  He spun around in a circle tugging at his hair.

“Unless you deleted the Tardis Matrix first,” Idris finished.

“So it deleted you,”  He winced.  “That had to hurt.”

“But House can't just delete a TARDIS' consciousness,” Idris added. “That would blow a hole in the universe. So he pulls out the Matrix, sticks it in a living receptacle and then it feeds off the remaining Artron energy. Oh. You were about to say all that. I don't suppose you have to now.”  Idris blinked in confusion and stumbled backwards.  Rose caught her.

“Doctor, we sent Jack, Mickey, Martha and Amy and oh my god!  Hope and Donna are in there. My Baby!”

“We’ve got to get Idris back now.” The Doctor’s  patience evaporated and the warrior emerged just assuredly as if this creature had attacked any innocent being but less the oldest and most precious being in the universe.

“Too late I’m afraid.”  Idris collapsed.  “Oh dear so many tiny parts to maintain.”

“No, this isn’t happening.”  Rose cradled Idris against her.  “Nobody hurts my baby or my TARDIS.” 

And there it was, the one thing the Doctor feared.  He swallowed hard as the depths of Rose’s eyes flickered with the most terrifying force in the universe, a wolf, a very angry bad wolf combined with a mum who wasn’t going to let anyone hurt her baby. 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter did not wrap up the way I wanted it so it's a cliffie. Next chapter will wrap up this adventure and merge into the next one and then hopefully things should be getting to the end.

Donna barely had time to greet her returning friends and meet Mickey and Amy before a green fog wrapped around the control console.

“What the bloody hell is that?” Donna shouted as Martha, Jack, Mickey Amy stood next her eyes wide as House took control.  Hope, sitting in the sling around Donna, let out a perturbed whine. 

“I got a bad feeling about this.” Jack stood protectively near Donna.  “Martha, try the door.” 

“I did, it’s locked.”

“Is it supposed to do this?” Amy gripped Mickey’s hand, eyes glued on the control console as the time rotor began pumping furiously.

Mickey tried to call out on his mobile.  “I got no signal.”

“How marvelous,” a droll voice echoed in the console room

“It can’t be,” Jack said softly, heart pumping in adrenalin as he recognized the voice.  He scanned the console looking for something he could use to protect them from an omnipotent being not that he had a clue how to do that.  His gut twisted as the TARDIS shook and shifted, throwing them to the side.  He barely caught Donna and Hope before they fell.

“Whatever this is, at least we’re safe in the TARDIS,” Martha said, clinging to a railing.

“You're half right,” the mellow voice intoned. “I mean, you are in the TARDIS. And what a great adventure. I should have done this half a million years ago. So, human companions, should I just kill you all now?”

“I don’t like this.”  Amy clung to Mickey’s side.

“Me either kid, cause this is usually when shit gets real.”  He glanced down at Amy.  “I didn’t just say that.”

“You’re worried about cursing now?” Amy asked in a perturbed voice.

“Corridors. I have corridors. So much to learn about my new home. But you haven't answered my question, children.” the voice boomed through the TARDIS.

“Am I addressing House?” Jack asked, eyeing the closest exit and how to get his group away.

“I think you know I am, Captain Harkness.  Now tell me why I shouldn’t kill you all now?”

“Because killing us quickly wouldn’t be any fun,” Martha answered and she covered her mouth as she realized what she said. 

“Fun?” Donna shouted and clung to Hope who whimpered in her arms.  “Fun is a day at the beach not a homicidal alien when there’s a baby on board.”  She looked down at hope.  “No worries Hope, Aunt Donna will keep you safe.  Especially, from planet hopping, TARDIS stealing aliens.”  She glared at the glowing grass green console.

“Martha’s right.”  Jack’s mind raced.  They needed time and a diversion until he could figure out a way to get control and get a hold of Rose and the Doctor.  “You need fun, don't you? I mean don’t we all?  That's what Uncle and Auntie were for, wasn't it? Someone to make suffer.”

“I had a PE teacher just like you,” Mickey added. “And a Torchwood trainer.  Man he pushed you until you--” He quieted as Amy shushed him.

“You need to be entertained,” Jack interrupted wondering what the hell Mickey was on about and then looked at his clothing and zeroed in on his weapon.  Good.  He could use that.  “And killing us quickly wouldn't be entertainment.”

“Right, what Jack said.”  Martha sidled up to the group next to Amy.

“Mickey.” Amy tugged at his jacket. “I changed my mind.  I’ll take my chances with the Darkness in the other universe.”

“To late for that,” Mickey muttered.

“I accept your proposal.  So entertain me, Run.”

“Everybody out!” Jack shouted and tugged a cursing Donna into the corridor followed by everyone else.

“This is mad!” Donna shouted, cradling a quiet Hope to her chest.

“We just need to keep it busy,” Jack said around gulping for air.  “Hang a right.”

“I hope you know what you’re doing.  This place is endless,” Mickey said.  “And trust me on that one.  Got lost in here my first trip.”  The ground gave way beneath he, Amy and Martha and they tumbled downward screaming as a door slammed shut behind Jack, Donna and Hope in another corridor.

“Keep running,” Jack shouted as he hoped the other group would be safe.  He reached for his mobile and said a prayer to a few deities as he ducked them into another corridor.  Hide and seek with an entity intent on killing them was not how he saw this day working out.

#

Ears pounding in panic and anger, Rose cradled Idris against her chest and stared into eyes that stretched into eternity.  Rose itched to run after the TARDIS but she felt equally compelled to keep Idris safe.

“Have we ever stayed still?” Idris asked, a smile lighting her pale face.  “Ever not gone where we are needed most?” Idris climbed to her feet, pulling Rose with her.  Panic subdued and a fiery determination urged Rose her onward.

“No, we keep going,” Rose responded.

“Rose, we need to--”

“Save our family,” Rose finished for the Doctor. 

“Together,” he agreed and laced his fingers with hers as the three raced back toward the TARDIS.

Idris laughed breathlessly calling out, “Love the running!”

They rounded a pile of refuse and skidded to a stop.  Rose’s stomach dropped as the time ship dematerialized before them.

“No!”  The Doctor grabbed her around the waist as she tried to throw herself at the ship.

“Rose, you can’t.  The vortex would rip you apart.”

“Yes and no,” Idris chimed in bouncing beside him, a hand pressed to her chest as she breathed heavily.  “Time rips, curls, embraces, recreates but wolves we have our ways in the wind and the wilds.”

The TARDIS faded from view and Rose again fought back mind numbing fear.  Her baby.  All she could think about was Hope at the mercy of a TARDIS eating alien.  Her gaze fell on Uncle and Auntie hovering nearby seemingly oblivious they’d been abandoned.  Or maybe they just didn’t care.

Fury raged through her and Rose yanked from the Doctor’s grasp and stormed over to them.  “Tell me where it took them!”

“Wherever House wants,” Auntie said and cocked her head to the side.  “Sorry, it’s time for us both to go.   It’s been lovely.”  She nodded at Rose.

“What do you mean go?  Go where?” Rose again demanded, hands fisted in aggravation.

“We’re dying, my love.  It’s time for Auntie and Uncle to pop off,” Auntie answered with a shrug.

“What no!” the Doctor stepped next to Rose and examined their hosts.  “I mean you look…errr.  Well to be honest, you look pieced together with a perhaps too much--”

“Doctor.”  Rose sighed at the oncoming babble.

“I’m against it,” Uncle stated and shifted on his feet next to Auntie.

“As if you have any say,” Auntie retorted and looked back to the Doctor.  “And it’s your fault, sweets.  You told House it was the last TARDIS.  House can’t feed on them if there’s none more coming now can he?”

Rose shuddered at the thought and what that meant for Hope and her friends.

“So now he's off to your universe to find more TARDIS.”  Uncle nodded.

“He won’t find any.” Rose stilled at the hard tone in the Doctor’s voice and shivered at how quickly the Oncoming Storm manifested.  She slid her fingers through his and squeezed his hand.  His shoulders relaxed at the contact.

“Oh, House’ll think of something,” Auntie responded before falling backwards, a vacant dead look in her eyes.

Rose tugged the Doctor with her as she dropped to her knees and felt for a pulse.  “She’s dead.”  A cold sensation clutched at her heart and not in any sympathy for the person before her.  Rose couldn’t feel sympathy for this predator.  Her fears and worries lay in a blue box hurling through the vortex.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” the Doctor looked at Uncle.

“No need.  I actually feel fine,” Uncle said before keeling over next to Auntie.

“Welll that’s done, kaput, over, the end,” Idris recited and stumbled into the Doctor who quickly stood to catch her. “Oh spinning, not quite like surfing. Roughly how long do these bodies last?” she asked breathlessly.

Rose stood and quickly wrapped an arm abound Idris.  “No, I’m not losing you.  We’re going to get back the TARDIS and be a family and you’re--”  Rose swallowed hard not sure what they would be.  All Rose knew was Idris was the TARDIS, her friend, who had cared for her and Hope after Canary Wharf.  And the TARDIS had to live.  She was too important to the multiverse.

“You're dying,” the Doctor said in the softest and most emotional voice Rose had heard him utter.  Her chest constricted and panic pounded in her head.

“No,” Rose said, her voice hoarse with a hint of desperation.

“Yes, of course I'm dying,” Idris retorted and her face softened as she cupped Rose’s face.  “I don't belong in a flesh body. I could blow the casing in no time.”  Idris straightened and patted Rose’s shoulder.

The Doctor paced back and forth tugging at his hair while Rose wrapped her arms around herself wracking her brain for a solution.  Her foot thudded against a twisted piece of metal.  She picked it up as a crazy idea spun in her mind.  Idris winked at her before slapping the Doctor on the shoulder.

“Now is not the time for hair pulling,” Idris chastised.  “Problem fixing, mending and resolving is what we need.  And you're the Doctor. Focus!” 

“Focus on what? How a TARDIS eating entity has stolen my box with my daughter and you…I mean without you and you’re all,”  He waved his hand back in forth in front of Idris who slapped his hand away.  “And we’re stuck in the back of beyond universe in a stupid old junkyard.”

Rose rolled her eyes as the most obvious point escaped him. She held out the twisted metal part that resembled a very familiar TARDIS part. “Doctor, where are we?”

He plucked it out of her hand and his eyes widened.  He spun in a circle, taking in the piles of metal and Rose smiled as it finally sank into his Time Lord brain.

“I’m so thick!”

“Finally.”  Idris slapped her hands on her hips.  “How do you manage?” she asked Rose who bumped her shoulder against Idris.

“We’re in a TARDIS junkyard!  And you--”  He pointed at Idris.

“Rude,” Rose muttered and shook her head even as her heart thundered with and for Hope.”

“You know, I never asked. Do you have a name?”

“Seven hundred years, finally he asks!” Idris exclaimed and shook her head. Rose bit back a laugh at his befuddled expression.

“You used to call her Sexy when you didn’t think I was listening,” Rose teased.

“I…well that is to say--” he sputtered, looking from Rose to Idris who leaned their heads together and conspiratorially giggled. 

“I rather liked when he called me that,” Idris admitted to Rose who was starting to burst into snorting laughter.

“Never mind that!” the Doctor snapped, clearly done with being the butt of their jokes which made it even funnier to both of them.

“Oi, enough! We have a valley of half eaten TARDIS.”  He waved his arm around.  “Now, are you thinking what I'm thinking?”  He ran over to a pile and began scooping up parts.  Rose’s laughter died along with Idris as they gazed at a shattered piece of coral.

“I'm thinking that all of my sisters are dead. That they were devoured, and that we are looking at their corpses,” Idris confided.  Rose’s breath caught and she immediately enveloped Idris in her arms. 

“You’re not alone.  We’re here, the Doctor and me, and Hope when we get her, and we’ll get the rest of you back.”

“Sorry. I wasn't thinking that.”  The Doctor tugged at his ear and his face fell as he ambled over to them, an arm holding TARDIS parts.  Rose shook her head.  Still her oblivious Time Lord.

“No,” Idris spoke in a clear tone. “You were thinking you could build a working TARDIS console out of broken remnants of a hundred different models and fly us to the rest of me. And you don't care that it's impossible.” Idris smiled knowingly at him.

“It's not impossible as long as we're alive. And we have Jack, Martha, Mickey, Donna and Hope out there keeping an eye on House.  We can still reach them.  And well, Rose is here.”  Warmth flushed Rose’s cheeks at how he spoke her name and the spark in his eyes.

“Rose Tyler eats impossible for breakfast. So yeah, we're going to build a TARDIS.”

With her hands clasped firmly on Idris and looped through the Doctor’s arm, excitement and confidence pumped through Rose.  They were going to do this.  And when they found House…the gloves came off.  Bad wolf wasn’t just a phrase she used to find the Doctor, it was what she became when Daleks, despots and TARDIS eating entities threatened not just the universe but her family.

#

“Slow down!” Donna huffed, still cradling Hope who hiccupped and whimpered.  Donna leaned against the corridor wall.  “Tell me what that thing is and how we stop it?”

“We need to keep moving,” Jack clenched his jaw, every muscle tight with wariness. 

“So what is it and how did it get in here.”

“We found it on the planet, it was the planet and now it’s here playing mind games with us.”

“But what does it want?  I mean why?” Donna demanded.

“It wanted to escape,” Jack reasoned now that he had time to think this through.  It used us to leave that world.” 

“Rose and the Doctor are back there.”  Donna looked down at Hope. 

“We’ll get back to them.”  Jack promised, squeezing Donna’s shoulder.  “After we deal with this thing.”

“So are we having fun yet? I'm rather enjoying the sensation of having you running around inside me,” House said in his eerie calm voice.

“That’s our cue.  Come on,” Jack urged Donna forward until the corridor spun and they floated in mid-air.  Jack wrapped his arms around Donna before they bounced against a wall and tumbled to the ground, Jack cushioning their fall.

“I've turned off the corridor anti-gravs, so do be careful,” House warned.

“Thanks,” Jack moaned as Donna sat up.  Hope giggled like she was having fun.

“She’s all right.”

“Fantastic,” Jack groaned as he and Donna stood.  “Uncle Jack aims to please.”

“We’ve got to find some place safe for Hope.”

“I’m working on it.  Come on, this way.” He pulled her toward the library, hoping their friends were faring better.

#

“Bond the tube directly into the Tachyon Diverter.” Idris stuck her finger on a metal cube affixed to the makeshift console cobbled together with bits of coral, metal parts, tin foil, wires and things the Doctor didn’t want to think about.

“Yes, yes, I have actually rebuilt a TARDIS before. I know what I'm doing.” The Doctor knew he was being rude with Idris but simultaneously he marveled at the irony of discussing the construction and repairs with his own ship.

“You're like a nine year old trying to rebuild a motorbike in his bedroom. And you never read the instructions,” she complained.

“I always read the instructions,” he retorted sucking his finger when he burned it. 

“Ha!  That’s a good one.  Try again, Doctor,” Rose chimed in, sitting cross legged with several components in her lap which she worked on sonicing.

Idris shook her head and muttered about thieves and jelly-baby addled Time Lords.  The Doctor pinched the bridge of his nose before turning back to the job at hand and tried not to compare two, no three now, of the most important women in his life.  And that thought alone struck him to his core. 

“There are instructions on my front door, you know,” Idris said while poking at some wires. “You have been walking past it for seven hundred years. What does it say?” she demanded, pausing to watch him.

Rose giggled as the sonic whirred in her hand.

“Those aren’t instructions,” the Doctor retorted.  The two of them were ganging up on him and although it was better than being alone or stuck in a another universe, he was a Time Lord and had his dignity.

“There's an instruction at the bottom. What does it say?” Idris continued and leaned over to twist two knobs.

“I know what it says,” Rose sing-songed and directed a tongue teasing smile at him.

“Who’s side are you on?” he asked amusement lightening his voice and he had to admit he couldn’t be cross with either of them for making light of an aggravating situation.

“Then tell us!” both women demanded in unison.  In fact, he couldn’t ignore how they both seemed to share similar body language the longer they were together.  He tucked that fact away for later investigation.

“Pull to open,” he answered with a pronounced sigh as he stuck his sonic in a coupling.

“Yes. And what do you do?” Idris drew out the words as she danced around to his other side to snap another piece into place.

“I push.”

“Oh does he,” Rose added with another naughty giggle.  “Sometimes with great satisfaction.”  She cocked her head in flirtatious way and his cheeks flushed at a particular lascivious memory.

“Rose, please.” He choked on the words but couldn’t stop smiling with the two of them chatting and poking at his ego.

“Every single time. Seven hundred years. Police Box doors open out,” Idris stated with a hint of superiority.

“I think I have earned the right to open my front doors any way I want.”  He sniffed and aimed his sonic.

“Your front doors? Have you any idea how childish that sounds?”

“As childish as a banana obsession and arguing with the Aswalkon Regent Tchalky about the best banana daiquiri in the universe or how about--”

“Rose!” He’d reached his limit and they needed to focus.  “And you.”  He pointed his sonic at Idris. “Are not my mother.”

“And you are not my child,” she quickly retorted.

“Maybe we should all focus on getting this done.  My baby is out there along with our family,” Rose reminded as she stood and slotted the temporal regulator into place along with the vortex stabilizer.

“You know, since we're talking with mouths.”  The Doctor knew he shouldn’t continue.   Rose was giving him the  _ we have a universe to save  _ look, which he now translated into  _ focus on saving our child  _ look.  But he was never one for self-preservation and had a dodgy history with protective mothers.

“It’s just it isn’t like this sort of opportunity comes along very often.”  He paused and eyed Idris who met his gaze with amusement.

“Oh go on and get it out before one of us explodes.”  He winced at the very real possibility for her.

“It’s just, you know, you have never been very reliable.”  He turned back to sonicing a make-shift shielding.

“And you have?” Rose demanded in a hard tone.  “Mr.  _ it’s only been twelve hours instead of twelve months _ ?”

“That was her!” he pointed at Idris.  Rose glared at him.  “Well it was.”  He turned back to Idris.  “You didn't always take me where I wanted to go.  Exhibit A--Rose Tyler’s untimely disappearance which resulted in her mother assaulting me.”

“No, but I always took you where you needed to go,” Idris said pointedly.

Rose walked over to Idris laying her hands on her shoulders and pressing a gentle kiss to Idris lips.  “Yes, you did.”

A lump formed in the Doctor’s throat at the power in not just Rose’s words but her gesture.  He’d never understood the link between the two.  Even after the Game Station, he’d never put his finger on how the two bonded as they did. 

But now, with Idris in physical form, he could see it.  They were components or parts of an intricate and brilliant temporal puzzle and they reflected each other in a way beyond his understanding.  Perhaps their relationship transcended emotion or logical thought.  Rose was Rose and the TARDIS was the TARDIS except together they were a force of nature. 

Time Lords would reject the very concept.  But the Doctor felt their connection to each other and him in the thud of his hearts.  Warmth spread from his chest to his limbs at the sensation of belonging to and with them.

“Look at us talking,” he said after clearing his throat.  “Wouldn't it be amazing if we could always talk, even when you're stuck inside the box?”

“You know I'm not constructed that way,” Idris ran her fingers along the newly constructed equipment. “I exist across all space and time, and you talk and run around and bring home strays.”  She winked at Rose before her knees buckled and Rose caught her.

“None of that now,” the Doctor said and ran his sonic down her side, his breath catching at the results.

“One of the kidneys has already failed.”

“No,” Rose’s voice cracked as she cradling Idris against her side.

“It doesn't matter. We need to finish assembling the console.”  She rested her head on Rose’s shoulder as Rose held her close, rubbing her hand up and down Idris arm in a soothing way.

“Using a console without a proper shell. It's not going to be safe.”  The Doctor scrubbed at the side of his face, mind racing at how he might amplify shielding.

“This body has about eighteen minutes left to live. The universe we're in will reach Absolute Zero in three hours. Safe is relative.”  Idris laid a hand on his arm and the Doctor could see the light ebbing from her eyes.

“Doctor,” Rose pleaded.  “There must be something we can do.”

“Of course there is.  We need to get a move on. Eh, old girl?” he teased Idris.

#

“Ouch!” Amy complained and rubbed her bum from where the three had fallen down a sudden void in the floor.

“Where are we?” Martha asked staring at a dimly lit corridor that looked aged and covered in cobwebs.

“We could be anywhere.  This ship is massive,” Mickey replied peering around.

“He doesn’t keep it very tidy does he?” Amy stood up and sniffed, wrinkling her nose at a sour scent.

“We should keep moving,” Martha suggested and reached for Amy’s hand. 

Amy accepted without question.  From what she’d seen of Martha, she wasn’t the type to panic for no reason.  But both she and Mickey acted nervous.  It wasn’t like Amy had never seen nervous adults.  Uncle Pete and Aunt Jackie had been paranoid by the time the Doctor found the right universe.  And Amy couldn’t blame them.

Thinking about the Tylers reminded her of her nightmares. Or maybe it was this corridor and the black pit of nothingness they were walking into.

“I don’t like this.”

“Me either, kid,” Mickey clamped a hand on her shoulder. 

“Then why are we walking into the spooky darkness?  Doesn’t that end badly in the horror films?”

Mickey and Martha exchanged a long measured look before Mickey puffed up and did his best to wear a tough look on his face.

“That’s what Torchwood trained me for.”

“To run away from the outer space monster who wants to murder us?” Amy pointed out.

“Let’s keep moving, yeah?” Martha inclined her head.

“What she said,” Mickey agreed and the three slowly trekked down a corridor that grew increasingly aged and decrepit.  A voice groaned in the darkness.

“Maybe it’s Jack,” Martha whispered.

Mickey snorted.  “Seriously?”

“Captain Jack Harkness!” Amy shouted.  Silence.  And then a guttural voice responded.

“Amelia Pond.”

“Nope not going that way.”  Mickey turned them around and they quickly walked in the opposite direction.  Amy looked over her shoulder once catching a glimpse of glowing red eyes blinking at her in the pit of darkness.

#

“You'll need to install the time rotor.”  Idris leaned against the make-shift console, a hand pressed to her stomach.

Rose and the Doctor struggled to install a tall cylinder until it glowed blue. He cursed in three languages, worried as Rose slipped, sweat beading her skin.

“How is this going to make it through the rift?” Rose asked, wiping a hand across her brow.”

The Doctor scratched his head, refusing to answer her.  The Truth was he had no answer and the science behind the whole project was fairly dodgy.

“Do you ever wonder why I chose you all those years ago?” Idris frowned at a wire coat hanger sticking up bent at an odd angle from one side of the console.

“I chose you. You were unlocked,” the Doctor responded before making a few more adjustments, catching one control that popped off into the air.

“Of course I was. I wanted to see the universe, so I stole a Time Lord and I ran away. And you were the only one mad enough.”  He paused and met her amused gaze.  Again a warmth enveloped him and he wasn’t sure how to process this emotion, the thought that he wasn’t just an outcast, the renegade who didn’t fit but was chosen by an entity far greater than a Time Lord.

“Right,” he drew out before shrugging his shoulders and pointing his sonic at a red button.  “We’re going to be fine.  Everything is brilliant, molto bene!” A spring shot up and arced over them landing in a pile of parts off to the right.  Rose rubbed at her temples before stepping over and cuddling into his side.

“Our baby’s out there.”  He swallowed hard as she brushed her fingers through his hair.  “And I know we’re going to get back and she’s going to love her daddy as much as I do.”  She brushed a kiss on his cheek and his hearts galloped with her faith.

“I don’t deserve Hope or you.”

“Yeah you do and that’s why you’re going to make this work.”

“But not unless you tighten the tri-metric temporal resonator,” Idris added from his other side tapping the new console.  The corners of his mouth twitched upward in a smile.  He looked between the two women and straightened.  He had the dream team by his side.  He could do this.  He soniced the resonator and steam curled upward.

“That's all right, really, it’s fine. Always happens.”  He tugged at his ear nervously and stared at the console.  “I’m missing something.  We need--” Idris and Rose held out a couple pieces of red rope with hooks on the ends.

“Yes! Safety first, I always say!”  The Doctor hooked the ropes on either side roping the three into the free standing console.”

“For Hope,” Rose said and squeezed his hand.

“For Hope,” he replied and kissed her forehead.  “Right. Follow that Tardis. Allons-y!”  He flipped a few switches while Idris and Rose clung to the console, and…nothing happened.

“Oh come on!” he growled and glared down at his very much not functioning time travel device. “There's rift energy everywhere. You can do it.”  He poked at a few parts, flipped switches back and forth and banged on a few more parts. “We just need to…divert all power to thrust. Ha!”

Sparks shot up three feet in the air.  Rose ducked down and covered her head.  Idris stood with her arms crossed and shook her head.

“Doctor, what’s wrong?”

“It can't hold the charge. It can't even start. There's no power. I've got nothing.”  He kicked the lower part and winced gripping the toe of his trainer.

“Oh, my beautiful idiot,” Idris shook her head.  “You have what you've always had. You've got me.”  Rose grinned and curled an arm through the Doctor’s as Idris kissed her finger, and transfers golden energy to the console.  Awe mixed with heart pumping adrenalin as they dematerialized and clung for dear life hurtling through the vortex.

#

Heart pounding, tears coursed down Amy’s face as they passed a corridor marked with  _ Hate Amy, Kill Amy, Die _ written in blood.

“Don’t look at it!” Mickey ordered and pulled her along faster.

“It’s just trying to get in your head,” Martha added and sneered at the ceiling.  “She’s just a kid you monster!”

A door opened to their right and Mickey tugged them inside.   They collapsed against a wall as the door solidified into more coral.

“Are you lost?” House asked.  “Do you need a rest?  There is no rest for the wicked and you have a very wicked little girl with you.”

“Stop it!” Amy shouted, clenching her fists.  “I’m not bad!  I didn’t do anything!”

“But all human offspring are wicked and selfish.  I’ve seen it in the databanks.  They eat homes, trample through forests with no regard for who or what lives there and steal porridge.”

“Oh my god, he’s reading fairy tales.” Mickey reached for Amy as she stumbled back against Martha who wrapped an arm around her.

“But I’m not any of those,” Amy whined, unable to hold back tears.

“We know what happens to naughty children.  Fee Fi Fo Fum.” The thud of heavy footsteps sounded and grew closer.

“We are not sticking around for that!  Come on.”  Amy held both adults hands without arguing. 

“Run faster,” House’s voice echoed with a slight lilt of amusement.

#

Rose held on for dear life barely able to squint past the energy lifting her hair and sizzling against her skin.

“This is more like it!” the Doctor shouted with gusto.  Idris nestled between them seemingly unaffected by the forces of the vortex swirling around them.  Rose’s stomach knotted and she swore she’d never ever complain about a rough landing again so long as they were inside the TARDIS. 

“We've locked on to them,” Idris shouted against the screeching sound of metal breaking. “They'll have to lower the shields when I'm close enough to phase inside.”

“We need to message them…Jack.  You remember him right?  The telepathic circuits should be online,” the Doctor shouted.

“The pretty one all tangled up in knots?” Idris winced.

Rose grabbed onto her arm, jolting once at whatever forces thrust them through the vortex.

“I don’t pretend to understand why you’re not keen on Jack, but he cares about you and all of us.  You can trust him.” Rose’s voice scratched against her throat as she shouted at Idris who nodded before squeezing her eyes shut.

#

“We can’t keep going on like this,” Donna complained out of breath, clinging to Hope in her sling.

I know but if I’m right, there’s another control console around here somewhere.  I found it on some schematics when I was trying to work out the Doctor’s message.  He pulled Donna and Hope down a narrow corridor that seemed to stretch on forever like they were stuck in some nightmare which for all Jack knew, could be true.

“I don’t like this and neither does hope.  She’s not made a sound in an hour.”

“It’s not been an hour.  Time in the TARDIS doesn’t…Ow”  Jack stopped and gripped his head.  “What the hell?”

“Oi, baby here.”  An eerie howling sounded and wind picked up in the corridor.

Shit, I think it’s emptying the atmosphere.  This way.”  Jack began climbing up a ladder, wincing at a throbbing pain that felt like someone knocking on the side of his head.

“I think I'm getting a telepathic message.”  He shouted down to Donna who climbed behind him, hope frowning and beginning to cry.  “Oh that’s not good.”

“Hello, pretty tangled time thing!”  Jack pulled himself up into the next level off the ladder and reached for Donna as he listened to the voice.

“Whoever you are, please tell me you’re not here to kill us.”

“Kill us?” Donna huffed and leaned against a wall and stared around the empty dark corridor.

“Kill you?  I should think not!  You have our offspring and my wolf would be very angry if you were harmed.”

“Rose is with you?” Jack breathed a sigh of relief before the ground shook beneath his feet. “We’re in a bit of pinch at the moment.  Uhhh could you maybe give us a hand.”

A heavy sigh sounded in his head. “I’m trying!  You have to go to the axillary control room. I'm putting the route in your head. When you get there use the purple slider on the nearest panel to lower the shields.”

“Okay, I think we might be close.” Jack drew out and inched he and Donna toward another door.  He opened it and saw a whirling, screaming vortex.  “Maybe not” He slammed the door closed.

“There’s another door this way.”  Donna led him to a door which wouldn’t budge until he kicked it open.  “Right go on, lady with a voice who sounds like the sun and moon”

“Perhaps my dear wolf is right and you’re worth setting my temporal couplings on edge.”

“Once we’re out of this, I’ll do more than that.” They may be in danger, but nothing lightened the mood like a good flirt.

“Oh, if you only knew.  Now you must hurry.  You'll have about twelve seconds before the room goes into phase with the invading Matrix. I'll send you the pass key when you get there. Good luck.”

“Well?” Donna demanded, pushing him forward through the latest corridor.

“I think the mad woman from the planet just rang me up and she’s with the Doctor and Rose.”  He paused and focused on directions in his mind he didn’t understand but guided him by touch and feel of his surroundings.  “They’re on their way to help us…I think.”

“No one can help you,” House droned on.  “I’m getting quite bored of this game.”

“We have to keep going,” Jack shoved them forward, flinching at every whimper baby Hope made and saying a prayer for good measure. 


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know why posting this fic has been such a trial lately but it has been. Sorry if something doesn't look right. Hopefully only one more chapter.

“How’s this going to work?” Rose shouted next to Idris as they jolted and spun until she thought for sure she’d vomit.  Idris clamped onto her arm and it was like everything quieted and she centered herself against the forces of the vortex.

“I directed your Captain to one of the auxiliary control rooms.”

“Her Captain,” the Doctor arched a brow and Rose met his questioning look straight on.  He didn’t get to judge.  He seemed to acknowledge this and leaned into Idris.  “There aren't any auxiliary control rooms. They were all deleted during the Time War.”

“I archived them, for neatness. I've got about thirty now.” Idris grinned at him.

“But, but no.  I know I deleted any old templates.  And thirty?  That’s impossible!  I only had a dozen or so,”

“So far, yes.”  Idris shrugged and leaned over to Rose.  “He’s never been neat or tidy.”

“Yeah, I got that from the wardrobe.  Seriously he had all these big collared things tossed all over the place.”  She snickered with Idris while he scowled.

“Stop that both of you and it’s not like Rose, toss my shirts around the console room Tyler is Miss Neat as--”  He opened and closed  his mouth a few times as Rose tilted her head to the side at exactly how and why her shirts ended up on the various coral struts.

“Anyway.” He cleared his throat.  “You can't archive something that hasn't happened yet.”

“You can't?” Idris replied innocently and Rose felt a familiar warmth and bonding with both of them that she’d missed since her separation from the Doctor.  It filled her with a sense they would make it through this back to the TARDIS and everything would be all right.

#

“What happened to the lights?” Amy asked in a shaky voice as her group stopped after running away from a wind tunnel effect in another corridor.

“The lights are fine,” Mickey answered and Amy felt him kneel down by her side, gripping her shoulders.

“It's messing with her head again.”  Martha leaned into Amy’s other side.  “It’s all right, Amy.  We’re right here and going to keep you safe.”

“Why’s it picking on her like this?” Mickey asked.

“It’s the Darkness,” Amy answered in a thready voice, her heart slamming in her chest.  “It knows I’ve seen it.”

“What Darkness?” Martha asked.

“Amy lived near a rift.  The Doctor says she’s sensitive to time and space fluctuations.  She sees it in her nightmares.  In our universe, some form of energy was spreading, destroying the stars.  It was part of why we were able to get to this universe, it weakened universal walls.”

“Something’s coming.” Amy gasped and flinched toward the wall, the sound of a heavy body dragging against the grating sounded loud and raised goose bumps on her arms.  “Please we need to run!”

“There’s nothing there,” Mickey assured her.

“Look, we’ll walk you until this thing gets tired of this pathetic game,” Martha said in a loud voice.  Amy understood Martha was trying to stand up to it but right then, she didn’t care.  She wanted to be safe and to see what was going on.

Clamped onto Martha’s and Mickey’s hand they strode forward.  “I think there’s a ladder up ahead.  I’ll be right back.”  His hand slipped away.

“Noooo, don’t leave me!”

“I’m right here,” Martha assured.  A thump sounded.  “Mickey?” Martha called out and then yelped releasing Amy’s hand. 

Chills covered Amy as in her blind state, her imagination took over and every sound amplified into monsters in the dark.  She knew she was being silly.  The Doctor told her there were no monsters, that they only existed in her imagination.  But she didn’t care at the moment.  Tears pooled in her eyes.

“Mickey?  Martha?” she called out tentatively.  She reached forward and her hand hit something solid and squishy.  The lights flashed on and she faced an Ood with glowing red eyes.  A scream tore from her chest as Martha rose up from where she’d fallen and drop kicked the Ood, Nephew.  Mickey rushed forward and scooped Amy up and ran down the corridor, Martha at his side.  Amy watched in terror as the Ood methodically followed them.  Soon Mickey shoved her up a latter.

“Climb!” he ordered and she complied on automatic.  The rest of Amy was in living in a land of denial and terror until she heard a baby crying, a normal sound.  She climbed up and into another room.

“I think the others are nearby,” She called down as Martha and then Mickey climbed up behind her.

“Keep moving,” Mickey commanded, glancing over his shoulder at the thud and clink as Nephew followed them up the ladder.  A louder crying sounded.

“Hope,” Martha breathed and raced forward.

“Oi slow down!  Could be that thing playing head games,” Mickey shouted.

“No, I’d know that cry anywhere,” Martha called over her shoulder.

Amy pulled Mickey and followed until they climbed through a doorway and nearly ran into Captain Harkness. 

“Thank god!” Donna breathed rocking the baby.  Amy breathed a sigh of relief at the domestic sight.  At least they were all together even if they were still hunted.  And then the lights went out.

#

“That’s it! You're doing brilliant, you sexy thing!” the Doctor growled out, hearts beating double time as Rose and Idris clung to the make-shift console next to him.  He could almost see a glimpse of blue through the swirling golden energy of the vortex that sizzled across his skin.

“So you do call me that. Is it my name?” Idris asked.

“There’s no name better!” the Doctor shouted even as Rose rolled her eyes.

“Oh he’s there!” Idris hopped up once and stumbled into Rose, who clung to her tightly.  Again the Doctor couldn’t ignore how they moved together against the console. 

“Tell me what you need me to do.” Rose scooted underneath his arm until she leaned over the console her bum brushing the front of his trousers testing his ability to navigate his cobbled together console under very pleasant distracting circumstances.

“Focus!” Idris shouted.  “Pilot now, woo the wolf later!” She thumped his shoulder and winked at him.  “They’ve arrived!”

“Tell them to hurry.”  A piece of the console flew off.  The Doctor gritted his teeth as he pressed Rose down into the controls.  “We’re not going to last much longer!”

#

“Everyone quiet,” Jack ordered faced with a door he couldn’t get open. 

“Nephew is right behind us,” Martha warned.

“Nephew?  Who’s nephew?” Donna asked as Hope whimpered.  “No worries, love.  Mummy and Daddy are on their way.”

“Trust me, you don’t want to know anything about that red-eyed thing.”  Mickey squeezed Amy to his side.  “Doing okay down there.”  Amy nodded and buried her face in his side.

“Jack?” Martha’s voice sounded urgent and Jack wasn’t looking forward to fighting off House and his crazy minion.  “This is where she told me to go. She said she'd send me the pass key. Ow!” He winced at the ache between his eyes after he slammed his hand against the door.

“Violence will get you nowhere,” Idris chimed in his head.  “Crimson. Eleven. Delight. Petrichor. “

“Crimson. Eleven. Delight. Petrichor?” Jack muttered and stared at the door.  “Shit it’s a code.”

“What’s Petrichor?” Donna asked rocking Hope.

“Petrichor, Petrichor wait!” Martha exclaimed. “She told you what it meant. The smell of wet dust, remember? Sooo, oh!  It's the meaning, not the word!”  Martha rushed up to him excitedly.

“The meaning of what?”  Jack winced again and rubbed at his right eye.  “I should know this.”

“It’s the ship, the TARDIS.  It’s telepathic right?” Donna suggested.

“Yeah so you’re saying--”

“I’m saying that’s how the ship works.  You don't say it, you think it,” Donna continued.

A loud thud sounded and the sound of footsteps grew closer.

“Hurry!” Amelia demanded, her hands fisted into Mickey’s jacket.

“Give me a minute,” Jack paced a few steps repeating the words and focusing on their meaning, trying to telepathically focus on his senses. “Crimson, his eyes teared up at the thought of the blood of so many he’d lost; Eleven, Eleven times Ianto made him smile; Delight.  Hope’s laughter and a raindrop falling into dust.”

“The door’s open!  Everyone inside,” Mickey commanded.  Jack raced in sending a mental thank you to his telepathic guide.  He immediately rushed around the darkened console.

“It looks like the main console room only less, you know alive.  Are you sure this is right?” Donna asked.  Hope squealed and for the first time sounded happy.  “Then again, can’t be too bad if little bit here likes it.”

“Hang on!”  Jack traced his fingers over the controls which only barely glowed when he began slamming switches and turning knobs.  “Shields Down!”

“How did you find this place? It's not on my internal schematics.” House questioned. “I had hoped some of you could join Nephew as my servants. But you are all nothing but trouble. Nephew, kill them.”

“Here it comes!” Mickey shifted Amy over to Martha and drew his weapon.  “Stay back!”

Jack winced.  “We're coming through. Get out of the way or you'll be atomised,” Idris announced in his head.

“So soon, we were only getting to know each other?” he flirted.  “Um  where are you coming through exactly?”

“I don’t know.  It’s more exciting that way.”

“I cannot wait to see you again,” Jack chuckled as three successive pops sounded from Mickey’s gun.  His laughter fled replaced by cool reflexes of a soldier.

“It’s still coming!  Everyone back!” Mickey shouted.  Jack crowded everyone back against a wall and drew his weapon and assumed a defensive stance next to Mickey. 

“We go down fighting, yeah?” Mickey nodded his head.

“Hopefully not but if so, it’s been an honor, Mickey Smith.”

A groaning and howling sounded along with crunching metal or maybe it was coral? Jack released his breath as a sight for sore eyes slowly materialized in front of him and on top of the Ood known as Nephew which, as his lovely lady promised, atomized.

“Doctor!” he shouted as his friends collapsed in relief against the coral struts behind him.

#

“Ow ow ow,” the Doctor slapped his palm on his ear and shook his head.  Rose fell to her knees in front of him, eyes squeezed tight.  “You all right?” the Doctor asked.

“Brilliant landing.  I want to vomit.” Rose groaned

“Oh don’t do that.  Evil TARDIS eating villain to defeat!” he said with a bit more exuberance than Rose appreciated.

Idris stumbled and clung to the console. “Not good. Not good at all. How do you walk around in these things?” 

The Doctor raced over and grabbed her elbow, his gaze landed on his friends.  “Jack, Mickey!”  A frown firmly etched on his face as his gaze drew to their weapons.  “Are those guns on my TARDIS?”

The two men, holstered their weapons before Amy shot forward with embracing him with a death grip around his waist.  “Don’t you ever do that again!”  She mumbled into his jacket. 

“Right, sorry.  Martha and you must be Donna with my--”   He swallowed hard as Rose raced over and scooped up their daughter, crying and cooing to her.  Everything in his universe suddenly centered right then and there.

With Amy still attached, he moved closer to Rose and his Hope.

“And this is the lovely lady who’s been whispering sweet nothings to me?” Jack sauntered over to Idris.  “Thank you and nice to see you again, Idris.”  He winked at her and she grinned back at him.

“Oh stop it!” The Doctor sighed but then Jack always did flirt with this ship.  He often suspected it was why he was so adept at piloting her and why his fingers didn’t seem to burn quite so much as the Doctor’s.

“Idris is my Tardis,” he announced to the confused group.  “Except she's a woman. She's a woman, and she's my TARDIS and just don’t.”  The Doctor wagged a finger at Jack who smirked and eyed the Doctor and IDRIS.

“She's the TARDIS?” Donna stepped forward and crossed her arms.  “Wait a minute!   The TARDIS is--”  Donna’s jaw gaped.  “This is completely bonkers!”

“He’s telling the truth.  She's a woman and she's the TARDIS.”  Rose brushed a kiss on Hope’s forehead.  Idris sidled over to gaze down at the baby.

“So tiny and yet so big,” Idris murmured

“The TARDIS is a woman.”  Jack broke out into laughter.  “I always knew…wait.  Is this some Time Lord thing.  Did you wish really hard?” Jack asked, a knowing look directed at the Doctor.

“Hello. I'm Sexy.”  Idris waved at everyone and all eyes turned on the Doctor.

“No, No and no.”  He again wagged his fingers at the group before pressing closer to Rose.  A lump formed in his throat at familiar brown eyes staring up at him.

“The environment has been breached. Nephew, kill them all.” House announced sounding less bored this time.  The Doctor ignored him.

“Hello Hope, I promise you and I will get some good get to know you time after Daddy rids the ship of the nasty TARDIS eating parasite.” 

“We’re with you,” Rose said softly, her lips brushing against his jaw.

“Please make it go away,” Amy pleaded, tears glistening in her eyes.  Fear rolled off his brave ginger in waves.  His jaw clenched as he squeezed her shoulder and gazed at Rose and Hope.  The tight control coiled within him began to snap.  This thing threatened Rose, his daughter, his TARDIS and his friends…his new family collected by both he and Rose. 

And that made things very simple.  This entity had murdered his people, TARDIS and essentially declared war.  The Oncoming Storm thundered to the surface in response.  He gently guided Amy over to Rose who pulled the girl close to her.

“Nephew won’t be answering your calls.”  The Doctor strode slowly to the auxiliary console with Rose, the children and Idris trailing behind him. 

“Doctor. I did not expect you,” House droned.

“No, I don’t imagine you did.  I am the proverbial bad penny.”

“Perhaps but then the big question is, now you're here, how to dispose of you? I could play with gravity.”  Idris grabbed Rose and Hope holding them close to her as everyone else fell to the floor.

“Or I could evacuate the air from this room and watch you choke.”

“Oh you really don't want to do that,” the Doctor responded in quiet deadly voice that left Rose trembling beside him.  He directed a long measured look at her assuring he wouldn’t go too far.  He wiped a few stray tears off Amy’s cheeks, reminding himself, recklessness had to be set aside.

Why shouldn't I just kill you now?” House asked.

“Because then I won't be able to help you.” He turned his attention back to the console. “Listen to your engines. Just listen to them. You don't have the thrust and you know it. Right now I'm your only hope for getting out of your little bubble and into my universe. And mine's the one with the food in.”

Idris cocked her head to the side.  “The playground of your youth,” she said and watched the Doctor.  But the Doctor couldn’t be distracted.  He had an evil entity to dispose of.

“You know, all I need is a promise not to kill us.”

“Doctor,” Rose warned.

“No worries, Rose. I'm sure it's an entity of its word. “Aren’t you?” the Doctor stared up at the darkened time rotor.

Idris collapsed and Rose and Amy knelt by her side.  “She’s burning up.”

“Hang on there, old girl. Not long now. It'll be over soon.”  His insides twisted as he felt time lines twist and tighten and his head pounded with how the body she inhabited was dying.

“I always liked it when you call me old girl,” Idris said, her voice waning.

“You want me to give my word? Easy. I promise,” House intoned in his droll voice recapturing the Doctor’s attention.

“How thoughtful.  I suppose I’ll trust you. Just delete, oh er, thirty percent of the TARDIS rooms, you'll free up thrust enough to make it through. Just activate subroutine Sigma nine.”

“Why would you tell me this?” House asked the slightest suspicion entering his tone

“Because we want to get back to our universe as badly as you do.”

“All right, yes. I can delete rooms. And I can also rid myself of vermin if I delete this room first. Thank you, Doctor. Very helpful. Goodbye, Time Lord. Goodbye, little humans. Goodbye, Idris.”

An eye blinding white light filled the room and when Rose could see again, they were back in the normal console room.

“Now you see,” the Doctor began on what Rose suspected would be an epic this ship is protected speech, as he circled his fully functional console.  “You could do that, but it just won't work. Hardwired fail safe. Living things from rooms that are deleted are automatically deposited in the main control room. But thanks for the lift.”

“We are in your universe now, Doctor. Why should it matter to me in which room you die? I can kill you just as easily here as anywhere. Fear me. I've killed hundreds of Time Lords.”

“Fear me. I've killed all of them.” The Doctor responded, a rough quality in his voice matching the darkest look Rose had ever witnessed in his eyes.

Idris yanked her down and Rose squeezed her eyes shut at a splitting headache punctuated with Idris’ telepathic message.

“I don't understand. What burns in the stars, in the Cascade of Medusa?  What’s that got to do with the beginning and the end?  The nightmare child.”  The Doctor’s trainers slapped at the grating distracting her.

“Oh yes, you're right. You've completely won. You can kill us in oodles of really inventive ways, but before you do kill us allow me and friends to congratulate you on being an absolutely worthy opponent.”  The Doctor saluted the ceiling.

“I’m not congratulating anything.” Amy jutted her lower lip out. 

“I think I’m with kid,” Jack agreed.  The others murmured their agreement.

“Same here,” Rose agreed and watched the Doctor continue, just waiting on how he would end this thing and hoping he hurried.  Idris’ raspy breath scared her.

“Yep, you've defeated us,” he continued with a nod, hands shoved in his pockets.  “Me and my lovely friends here, and last but definitely not least, the TARDIS Matrix herself, a living consciousness you ripped out of this very control room and locked up into a human body. And look at her.”  He turned to gaze down at them and Rose’s breath caught as Idris’ chest stopped moving.  Hope whimpered against her.

“Doctor, she's stopped breathing,” Roses could barely get the words out.  “Idris, we’re right here.”  She leaned close and brushed her lips against Idris’ forehead.  “Please don’t leave us.”  Her chest tightened and tears threatened to spill.  Amy wrapped an arm around her as they watched Idris life ebb.

“That is enough,” House ordered.

“No. It's never enough. You forced the TARDIS into a body so she'd burn out safely a very long way away from this control room. A flesh body can't hold the TARDIS Matrix and live. Look at her body, House.”  Rose barely saw the Doctor through a blur of tears.  Anger began to constrict in her throat and Hope cried in earnest.

“And you think I should mourn her?” House asked and Rose prepared to launch herself upward and teach this monster who and what he was dealing with.

“No.”  The Doctor casually ambled closer to the console.  “I think you should be very, very careful about what you let back into this control room. You took her from her home. But now she's back in the box again, and she's free.”

Rose gasped and scooted backwards pulling Amy with her as golden energy streamed from Idris into the console then out again and through the TARDIS.

“No. Doctor, stop this. Argh! Stop this now!” House bellowed.

“Oh, look at my gorgeous girl. Look at her go. Bigger on the inside. You see, House? Do you finally get it?” The Doctor asked with a cold smile curling at his mouth.

“Make her stop!” House screamed.

“That's your problem. Size of a planet, but inside you are just so small.”  The Doctor leaned in close to the console.  “Finish him off, girl.”  He patted the controls.

“Noooo! Don't do this! Argh!” House screamed and Rose stilled, a pressure building inside her head and she swore she heard wolves howling.

A soft breeze curled around her and she looked up at the time rotor watching a golden barely there image of Idris leaning against it.

“Doctor, are you there? It's so very dark in here.” She said, blinking in the golden light.

“I'm here,” the Doctor’s voice cracked as he reached up toward her his fingers passing through her image.

“I've been looking for a word. A big, complicated word, but it’s so sad. I've found it now.”

“What word?” He asked and Rose stood and walked over next to him, holding Hope against her while lacing her fingers with his.

“Alive. I'm so alive.”

“Alive isn't sad.” He squeezed Rose’s hand and Rose understood what was coming.

“It's sad when it's over. But always remember when we talked and there's something I didn't get to say to you.”

“Goodbye?” Rose leaned into the Doctor.  Her eyes blurred with tears as she tried to swallow back her grief.  Yes the TARDIS still lived but the sense of loss of the woman she hugged ached in her chest.

“No. I just wanted to say hello. Hello, Doctor. It's so very, very nice to meet you. Both you and Rose.”  Rose gulped for breath as she held Hope who seemed to sense the grief washing over her parents and cried softly with them.

“Please. I don't want you to. Please,” the Doctor’s voice cracked and Idris disappeared.  Jack walked up beside them.

“She’s gone.  I’m sorry.” Jack said softly.

“No she’s not,” Rose cleared her throat.  “She’s always with us just like she’s always been and always will be.”  Rose looked down at Hope.  “And she’ll be here for our Hope as well.”

The Doctor pulled Rose and Hope into his arms.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Jack moved over and set a few controls and slipped them into the vortex for some peace and quiet and a little family bonding time.

#

After some quite time for she and the Doctor and a well-deserved celebratory tea for their family, Rose had collapsed for a nap while the Doctor enjoyed bonding time with Hope.  When she awakened, Rose found them in the console room.  The Doctor, glasses perched on his nose, held Hope in the baby sling around his chest babbling about his repairs.

“Now then, you see we set the sonic for Tri Hedrox Two Four Apple and activate the new firewall around the Matrix and ohhh--”  He paused and wrinkled his nose.  “That has to be worse than a Slitheen, like noxious gas released by the Freklin swamps of--”

“Oi, that’s your offspring,” Rose interrupted with a smile so big it hurt her cheeks but tempered by hormones of happiness that threatened to cause yet another bout of joyous mother tears. 

“And mummy is here to whisk you off to nappy land,” the Doctor’s voice pitched up.  Rose snorted as she wiped at unshed tears.

“Don’t think so Doctor.  Carried this little bundle of joy all on my own, pushed her out and had nappy duty without Time Lord Daddy around.  I think this one’s on you.”  She crossed her arms and watched his face fall.  He sniffed once and eyed his daughter whose face was starting to redden.

“Right.  Nappy duty.”  He winced and lifted her out of the carrier and held her in front of him as he walked toward the corridor.  “Could use some company…if you want?” he called over his shoulder before exclaiming “blimey!  How can one little time tot--”

“Bigger on the inside,” Rose sing-songed to him before patting the console and followed him back to the nursery which the TARDIS, in a bout of pity or maybe it was revulsion at the stench, moved closer.

A certain contentment warmed Rose as she watched her Doctor mutter about inefficient waste disposal; the need for improved higher tech nappies and a new sonic setting, changed and cleaned their daughter.  Hope seemed to find the whole process hilarious as she wiggled and giggled at him.

“Doctor?” Rose asked, settling into a rocking chair, her mind drifting back to Idris and all that happened.  Thus far, the Doctor was his typically avoid the topic self.

“I think this girl might be hungry.  She’s clean, nappied but I feel a slight tingle in the telepathic synapses that could be hungry.”  He blew a raspberry into her belly and the baby giggled and Rose couldn’t stop the same joy bubbling through her.  She unbuttoned her cardigan as the Doctor settled Hope onto her chest to nurse.

“I’ll always regret not being here for both of you,” he said softly, awe lacing his voice as it did every time he watched her nurse Hope.  He settled on a stool nearby, chin in his hands watching them.

“I’d rather you’d been here too.  But the universe had other ideas, didn’t it?”

His face fell and he stood and restlessly paced around the nursery, picking up a few of hopes plushy toys.

“But you’re here now and that’s all that matters,” Rose said, holding Hope steady against her breast, lip smacking punctuating the odd silence in the room.

“Yes, I suppose,” he said, staring up at the stars sparkling against the coral ceiling.

“We haven’t talked about your time in Pete’s world or much about Amy.  I know something bad is happening there.  We have to help them.  This isn’t over.”

“No.” His voice sounded clipped and cold.  Rose leaned back and stared up at the ceiling.

“A lot of things happened here too and I can’t make sense of all of it but the TARDIS…I think she tried to tell me.  I think even Idris did in her way.  I don’t suppose you can make her talk again?  I mean properly so we could ask?”

“I can't.”

“Thought that might be the answer.”  She sighed, wondering if she could push him further.

“You see, Time Lords discovered that if you take an eleventh dimensional matrix and fold it into a mechanical then it sort of...”

“It’s complicated and temporal,” Rose finished as Hope finished her meal.  Rose lifted her up to her shoulder covered in a waiting flannel.

“Sort of, yeah,” the Doctor walked over and rested a hand on Hope’s back as she let out a rather loud burp.  “That’s my girl!”

“Says the Time Lord without the spit filled cloth on his shoulder,” Rose quipped.

He arched a brow at her before sweeping up the soiled cloth and disposing of it, taking Hope back from Rose while she rebuttoned her cardigan.

He cradled Hope up against his chest and swayed back and forth.

“She’s so good for you.  I promise, you get to put her down from now on,”  Rose walked over and kissed the top of Hope’s head as she dozed off and the Doctor put her down in her TARDIS blue crib.

“I’d be glad to, honoured really.”  He stared down at her and shook his head.  “I never thought I’d ever have this.”  Rose curled up to his side and wrapped her arms around his waist.

“Me either.  But I’m so glad I do.”  After a few moments of just basking in happiness of being together, Rose felt that familiar niggle at the back of her mind.  “But we still have more to do and I think before she went back into the TARDIS, Idris was trying to tell me something.”

“Tell you what?” the Doctor asked, a slight edge in his voice.

“She kept repeating something but I don't know what it meant.”

“What did she say?” the Doctor turned and gripped Rose’s shoulders, penetrating gaze directed at her.

“Something burning in the stars and the Medusa Cascade and…” She bit her lip. 

“What?” he demanded.

“The beginning is the end and the end is the beginning and something about nightmare child?”  She paused as he stumbled back tugging at his hair murmuring  _ no no no _ .

“I know Amy suffers from nightmares.  Was she talking about Amy?”

He spun around eyes widening. “It can’t be.”  He looked at Hope and scrubbed at his face.

“Mickey said the stars were going out.  And the Medusa Cascade…there’s a rift there. I thought that’s how we’d get back to you.  It was like pounding in my head t to go there.” The words tumbled out and Rose’s heart slammed in her chest.  “You know what this means don’t you?”

“It’s the end of the universe.”  Rose raced over and threw her arms around the Doctor, the two clinging to each other as their baby slept in peace seemingly unaware of the peril threatening all of them.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have this all written now so I'll be posting a chapter a day until finished. One or two more chapters after this - depending on how long I make them. Thanks for sticking with me on this story :)

The Doctor pulled away from Rose abruptly, gaze fixated on a sleeping Hope. 

“Doctor, we’ll take care of this,” Rose attempted to assure him.  He turned his head, looking toward her but his gaze landed somewhere over her shoulder.  Time paused for the briefest moments. The air thickened around them.  She blinked and everything snapped back into motion.  The Doctor marched from the room without another word.

Rose knew that closed off, hard look on his face.  No way was she putting up with more of the  _ lofty Time Lord making decisions for her _ attitude.  She paused to brush a kiss on a sleeping Hope’s head before following him.  No surprise, he raced around the console, mallet in hand, banging on controls and twisting dials.  Alone, of course.  It seemed old habits died hard. Even after a prolonged separation and yearning to get back, he still shut down and acted the lone wolf.

“Stop,” the command burst past her lips as anger simmered beneath the surface. 

“I’m setting course for Earth,” he responded tersely.

“And why is that?” She crossed her arms, ready to do battle and not against whatever darkness threatened the universe.

He stopped and glanced at her before slowly tapping the keyboard.  “To take everyone home.  What’s coming isn’t their battle.”

“Yes it is,” Rose countered and stepped up to the console, running the tips of her fingers over the vortex stabilizing controls.  “From what I’ve heard, this affects everyone in the multi verse.  We need to stand together.”

“Not this time.” His words cut through air as the time rotor pulsed. Rose’s self-control broke and a scorching fury flushed through her from head to toe.

“Yes, this time.  Or maybe you haven’t been paying attention.” She refused to back down, leaning closer toward him until she met his arrogant Time Lord gaze.  “Look closer, Doctor.  I’m not some young, naïve human you picked up.  I’m a mum now, a stronger person who dealt with shit the universe laid on my doorstep.  I had to learn about the TARDIS and temporal and trans-universal physics all while taking care of Hope and the TARDIS.”

“Rose,” he drew out her name with clenched teeth.

“No, for  once you’ll listen to me,”  She clenched her fists and everything she’d held in for the past year and a half spilled out in rapid fire.  “While you were trapped with Mum in that other universe, I had to live on, figure things out, protect Hope and Earth.  All while hurting for you, for us.  No matter how tough things were, or how afraid I was, I didn’t give up.”

“Maybe you should have.”  The bitter tone in his voice was like lighting a match to dry tinder.

“Maybe I should have but I didn’t!” Rose swore the air in the console room heated to match the fury burning in her chest. “I kept working through invasions, a disappearing hospital, a haunted house, Torchwood, UNIT, always fighting to keep my planet and the universe safe.  Not because I wanted the adrenalin rush but because I cared; I loved you and Hope and all these friends who--”  She swallowed hard as angry tears pricked at her eyes. “All my friends stood by me, putting their lives at risk to stand for what’s right and make a difference.  They’re the bravest, most brilliant, compassionate and strongest people I know and that includes you.  Even if right now I’m questioning the brilliant Time Lord part.”

“Rose, you don’t--”

“Oh stop it with the I don’t understand the big important universe destroying problem,” she snapped, running her hands through her hair in aggravation. 

“I do understand.  I understood it with Daleks, Cybermen, Idris and especially when the TARDIS and I shared a heart.  Just because I don’t have centuries of knowledge, doesn’t mean I can’t understand that some dark horrible thing, from your past I’m guessing from the gutted look on your face, is now back and we could all die.

“So spare me the long Time Lord lecture about how I can’t understand and just tell me the truth so we, all of us,”  Rose gestured around the TARDIS, can work together to solve it.  Cause right now, this self-sacrificing forging on alone as Last of the Time Lords shite isn’t going to cut it with anyone and right now there’s more of us than you so spill.”

A slow clapping sound filled the console room followed by whistles and  _ You tell him blondie _ !

The Doctor pinched the bridge of his nose.  Rose leaned against the console and a warmth emanated from the time ship as the hum turned into what Rose would call a satisfied purr.

“She’s right you know.” Donna stepped forward and stood next to Rose.  “I don’t know you very well time boy, but Rose is a mate and she’s told me a few things.  She and Captain Hawtness over there saved me from an alien who wasn’t as nice as Rose says you are.  The jury’s still out onyou, I might add.”  Rose looped her arm through Donna’s in solidarity and waited for her friend to continue while the Doctor glared.

“She says you’re brilliant and can help figure out the big bad whatever.  Although, I’ve got to say, we’ve been doing fine without you.”  Rose and Donna grinned and bumped shoulders.  “But if this thing is from your past, this Time War, then it’s going to take all of us.  And Maybe I’m not some almighty Time Lord but I’ve got skills.”

“So do I,” Martha stepped forward.  “Where I’m from doctor is a title that’s earned and I’ve worked hard for it, studied your library and at UNIT.  I may not be the best with a gun, but I can hold my own in a fight.”

Mickey, Jack and Amy stood by Martha.  “Doing this together makes for better odds,” Jack added.  “We held our own against House and I’ve still got a few tricks up my sleeve.”

“What’s it going to be, Boss?”  Mickey pulled out his mobile.  “Or do I got to ring up Jackie to give you another lecture on not being all lonely god.”

“Rose’s mum?” Donna smirked.  “I’d like hear that.”

Amy walked over to him, staring up solemnly.  “I don’t want to have any more nightmares.  You said sometimes we have to face the monsters to make them go away.”

“I…you don’t understand, Amy,” the Doctor sputtered, fidgeting under her demanding stare.  “These aren’t just nightmares or imaginary monsters in the dark.”

“Neither are mine,” she retorted sharply.

Rose shivered at Amy’s serious tone.  She didn’t know much about the little girl but motherly instincts pounded to protect her.  Maybe more than motherly instincts. Bad Wolf instincts clawed to the surface and she walked over and knelt by Amy.

“And that’s why we’re going to the Medusa Cascade, all of us.”  She squeezed Amy’s shoulder in assurance and shot a pointed look at the Doctor who tipped his head up and squeezed his eyes shut.  Rose stood, hands resting on Amy’s shoulders.  “No more putting it off.  Tell us what you think it is and let’s do this.  It’s what Idris was trying to tell us, wasn’t it?”

The Doctor walked to the console tapping his fingers on the edge, glancing at all of them, his face a stony mask.  The only sound in the room was the TARDIS hum and shifting feet on the grating as the group waited.  Finally, the Doctor broke under the silence.

“If this is what I think then it’s beyond human comprehension, beyond the reality you perceive and--”  He paused swallowed hard and landed a piercing look at Amy.  “Is the stuff of nightmares.”

“Idris called it the Nightmare child,” Rose mentioned. Amy flinched and shifted closer to Rose.

“Yes, that’s an approximation of its ancient name.  Although, some say that’s a mangled translation of a language so old it predates the Eternals.  A few of the older species still banging around this universe suggested the name is more of a warning to avoid the dark places where ephemerals aren’t welcome.”

“Ephemerals?” Jack asked.  “Like us?  I’ve heard rumors of certain quadrants of space where nothing lives, where even the stars died.  The Time Agency put beacons warning of dark matter and forces no humanoid species or their ships could survive.”

“Dark matter.” The Doctor snorted.  “I suppose that’s as much as your minds can comprehend,” he finished with an arrogant tilt of his chin.

“Yeah, well our minds crossed the Void and passed through what’s in there,” Mickey added, leveling the Doctor with a challenging glare.

“What’s the Void and what’s in it?” Martha asked.

“The void between universes,” Donna supplied.  “It’s where the Daleks and Cybermen came from at Canary Wharf.”  Martha’s face hardened and she glared at the Doctor who ignored them, his gaze pinned on Rose.

“The Void is a walk in the park and anything in it is dead now.  And what do you suppose killed all that lingered in the Howling?” the Doctor asked.

“Something bad,” Amy answered.  “Something devouring everything even light and it knows--”  She paused.  “Me and you Doctor.  It knows all of us.”  Rose tugged Amy closer, determined to protect her from whatever made her voice quiver. 

“Doctor?” Rose prompted as he gazed at Amy, his face falling as if the weight of the universe weighed him down.  Which, Rose supposed, it did.  But he had her and their friends now.  It was time for him to accept he wasn’t alone.

“We’re here for you and we’re not afraid.”

“You should be.” He hated to sound so grim.  As he looked at all of them, all he saw was young beings with incredible potential now at risk of losing everything.

“This is not something that should exist.  I locked it away in the Time War.”

“But what is it?” Donna demanded.  “You keep telling us it’s so scary and it has something to do with stars going out but how and why?  And why now?”

“I don’t know why now.”

“Maybe I do,” Jack said slowly and paced around the console.  “Yvonne.”  The Doctor’s breath caught, his chest squeezed tight as his mind raced at what Jack suggested.

“Hartman?” Rose furrowed her brow.  “You mean when they broke through the Void?”

“The Void destabilized and cracks formed in universal barriers.”  Jack leaned against the control console and crossed his arms.  “Isn’t that what you stopped, Doctor?  Or tried to?”

“I did stop it.”  He marched over to the controls, anger heating his neck at Jack’s very astute observation.  His fingers pounded commands on the keyboard and he waited for calculations.  His stomach clenched at the results. 

“You saved Earth, both of them,” Rose walked over and rested a hand on his shoulders, stiff with tension.  He refused to accept her comfort. 

“The fractures went farther than any of us thought.  Torchwood and UNIT didn’t see it did they?” Rose asked.  “And you were stuck on the other side and couldn’t see what was happening.”

“No, I didn’t see this.” Memories of the war, of Daleks and his own people screaming; time rewritten so many times it grated across his time sense like scraping nails on a chalkboard.  Time lines snapped; planets burned until he thought he’d never know any other scent than scorched metal and death. 

He couldn’t breathe. The air pressed in around him. His head pounded until he swore time snickered and taunted him, grasping at his time line to hurl him back into the inferno.

Warm arms wrapped around his waist.  The warm, floral scent of home, of Rose enveloped him chasing away the shrieks and accusations of his memory.  He nestled his face in the crook of her neck, blonde hair tickling him as tears wet his eyes.  He clawed into the soft flesh of her hips as she promised him safety and love.

With a shaky breath he pulled away to find absolution in her whiskey colored eyes.  But pain lay nestled there as well in the form of golden strands reminding him of how he’d changed her life forever. 

“Stop it,” she quietly admonished and pinched his bum.  A bubble of amusement washed away some of the more vicious recriminations.  Only Rose Tyler would pinch his bum as a reminder not to be a stodgy, self-blaming old Time Lord.

“I don’t want you to face this.” His voice strangled at the words. “You’ve done enough.”  He looked around the room at all the people, friends, brave humans who would recklessly stand by him out of devotion to both he and Rose and their own courage.

“Doctor,” Amy’s voice cut through him.  He’d vowed to give Amy a better life, safer and happier life. 

“Aunt Jackie always says it’s better to get it out and over with then to be a misery and let it fester.  And I want to know what’s after me.”  She tilted her chin up and her eyes drilled into him.  There was no escaping that look.  He’d seen it enough from her Jackie and Amy learned the Tyler glare very well.

“It’s a weapon from the Time War.”  Once the words started he couldn’t stop.  “The Time War was more than about the control of time.  Time was a weapon wielded by both the Daleks and the Time Lords.”  He stepped away from Rose but kept a hand on the small of her back, needing the contact.

He aimed his sonic at a control panel and a three dimensional image displayed before everyone, a representation of a battle between the Dalek fleet and hundreds of TARDIS surrounding a massive metallic battle cruiser.

“One side struck the other using time to unmake or alter events, entire species or star systems.  The other side reversed the damage.  It happened over and over again.  It drove both sides mad.”  He squeezed his eyes shut.

“They killed each other over and over again, the same people,” Donna said softly watching the destruction and recreation of planets and start systems.  “Oh my god, they remembered, didn’t they?”  She backed up toward Jack, who steadied her.

“I can’t.” Martha shook her head.  “Reliving death over and over again.” Her gaze was drawn to Jack who stood, stoic, shoulders thrown back like the soldier he was. The Doctor couldn’t ignore the solemn and knowing look in Jack’s eyes.  It struck through the Doctor in a new visceral way.  He’d never thought of Jack’s condition as a parallel to the Time War.  New nauseating guilt stabbed at his temples.

“And this Nightmare Child thing had something to do with that?” Rose prompted jarring the Doctor from his memories and guilt.

“No, not exactly.”  He struggled to formulate the words, evidence at how his past actions still shrouded around him like a cloak of death.  He didn’t want such darkness and destruction to touch Rose and his new family.  But Rose stood firm by his side.  She wouldn’t back down and he wanted to be brave for her.

“The Nightmare Child was a temporal weapon wielded to destroy star systems.  It devoured Davros himself, the creator of the Daleks.  I tried to save him--”  He  let his words hang.

“So it’s Organic?” Martha asked.

“Not in a way you’d understand,” he answered, unwilling to elaborate on the horror of the monster’s creation.

“Can we kill it?” Mickey didn’t mince words.  The Doctor hated how the other man’s eyes hardened into the soldier the Doctor never wanted him to be.  Mickey, despite all his joking around with Jake at Torchwood, had shown an aptitude for greater things than wielding a gun.

“No, not like you’re thinking.”  He looked across the room, lost in memories of watching a creature conceptualized by Davros but came into being as a result of the Time War.  “It’s not flesh and blood.  This entity came into being by manipulation of vortex energy mixed with imploded Huon particles, birthed in what you would call a quantum singularity. 

“It knows nothing but hunger and is driven to consume everything before it:  Stars, planets, ships and even time.  You can’t see it with human eyes.  It would be like staring into the blackest abyss.   Even if you did happen to glimpse a spark of its life force in the vacant nothingness, the consuming everlasting hunger of the collision of time and space forming its heart would drive you mad.”

“So we can’t see it?” Mickey asked and arched a brow at Jack who moved toward the console, resting a hand on the edge.

“But you can and maybe I can too,” Jack commented.  “My timeline is fixed and I’m not exactly pure born human.”

“Jack--”  The Doctor sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose again even as he contemplated some merit to his friend’s argument.

“You know I’m right.  It’s not like I haven’t faced my share of death or know what that black nothingness feels like when it sucks the life from me.”

“Jack, you’ve never said--”  Jack didn’t let Rose finish. 

“You had your own problems, sweetheart.  I can bear mine.  It’s all been worth it in the long run.  To see you and Hope, to live through Earth history, to fight, to love and even to die for what I believe in.  I’ll face this thing with the Doctor and everyone else will be back up.  It has to be stopped no matter the cost.”

The Doctor squeezed Rose’s hip, understanding her need to comfort Jack.  He owed Jack Harkness far more than he’d ever be able to pay back. Where he had been a coward, Jack found his purposes and courage.  The Doctor didn’t want to expose Jack to any more darkness and pain than he had to.

“I’ve seen it,” Amy confessed, interrupting the Doctor’s thoughts.  “It’s been in my nightmares.  I didn’t go mad.  You promised me I wasn’t,” she insisted.

Amy was another example of a brave human facing her fears and another one he didn’t want to drag into his battle.  He knelt down before her, Rose at his side.

“You were exposed to something extraordinary and what you’re experiencing is a visual manifestation interpreted by your very brilliant imagination.  You’re sensing echoes.”  He reached for her hand but she stepped away, chin tilted up.

“I knew about it before anyone.  I can find it.  It’s looking for me.”  Her face paled and bottom lip quivered.  She looked at Rose.  “It can sense me too.”

“Why does it want Amy?” Donna demanded as Rose hugged Amy to her promising she would protect her.  A bitter taste filled the Doctor’s mouth at that promise.  He’d also promised Amy and look where they were, about to face the very thing that terrified her. 

“Why does it want Amy?” Mickey repeated.  “I mean that thing House picked on Amy too.  Was that part of it?”

“Did it?” the Doctor said slowly, his mind racing at how so many seemingly random events paralleled or connected to all of them in some way. 

“That’s too much of a coincidence,” Martha added as if reading his mind. 

“So Amy lived by a rift in time and space and caught the attention of the star eating time monster?” Mickey asked.

The Doctor shot up, his hearts pounding at how Mickey, the former tin dog of their merry group, now saw the multi verse in a new light and just pointed out what the Doctor missed.

“Time,” he muttered and stared at Amy clinging to Rose’s side.  “Amy’s been immersed in it.” His gaze slid to Rose and then Jack.  “Temporally touched beings, time travelers.  Of course.  It’s looking for artron signatures similar to…Ohhhhhh.”  He smacked his forehead, the threads and connections between the Time War and the events leading him to the present coalescing into a big knot of bad with a side dose of worse.

“It’s looking for you, a Time Lord,” Donna pointed out.  “Rose, didn’t you tell me time travelers like you and Jack were dosed up in artron energy?  Sort of like what happened to me and the Racnoss.  It wanted me dosed up with Huon oh wait!  You said this thing was created with Huon!”  She stared at the Doctor before looking at Jack.  “I’m not gonna--”

“No,” the Doctor stated firmly.  “And what do you mean the Racnoss and being dosed with Huon?”

“Big alien spider.  It was running from this Time War of yours.”  She frowned stormed up to the Doctor.  “What is it with you Time aliens?  Wars, dosing up humans and terrorizing little girls or eating up the universe?  Don’t you have a hobby?”

“The Racnoss are extinct,” he said and looked Donna up and down trying to reconcile how the Racnoss could exist and interfere in her life.

“Well they weren’t but they are now.”  Jack winked at Donna who rolled her eyes.

“It’s a long story,” Rose supplied.

“The point is,” Donna continued.  “With you mentioning the Huon and me and the Racnoss, it’s got to be connected to your Nightmare whatever stalking the universe, enjoying a few star snacks looking for you, or people like Amy or--”  she stopped and covered her mouth before gasping out, “Rose and Hope.”

The Doctor looked from Amy to Rose.  A fiery rage dispelled any fear, traumatic memories or guilt at how his past threatened the multiverse.  The soft warmth in her eyes conveyed understanding of his pain and need to keep her safe.  He brushed his hand over the top of Amy’s head before stepping closer to Rose not missing Amy’s heavy sigh of annoyance. 

“Donna’s right,” he admitted and laced his fingers with Rose’s as he gazed into her eyes.  “I can’t leave you and Hope on Earth.  This started in the Time War.  I never stopped it, just locked it away.  Canary wharf somehow shattered realities and time and space causing a bit of the Time War to escape.

“I don’t know how the time lock was broken.  It should have been impossible yet it happened and a chain of events, like a domino effect are drawing-all of us together in some cosmic solution to an imbalance in reality.”

“So how do we stop it.  How do we save reality?” Donna asked, capturing his attention as she leveled a gaze just as demanding as Amy’s.  A smile burst forth at her strength.  Rose had assembled quite a group of universal defenders.

“We go to the Medusa Cascade,” Rose answered and squeezed his hand.

“And we send it back to hell,” Jack finished.  “I mean if we can’t destroy it, then we have to contain it, right Doctor?”

He shouldn’t be surprised at how quickly Jack grasped the concept.  A fixed point with a presence that scraped against his time sense, Jack remained clever, intuitive and loyal.  He had every right to hate the Doctor and yet there was Jack, protecting Rose, his child and still willing to help the man who abandoned him.

“It’s possible,” the Doctor admitted and scrubbed at the back of his neck and squinting as he attempted to come up with a plan.

“The Medusa Cascade is the solution,” Rose suggested, pacing a few steps away and leaning against the console, Amy mimicking her stance. 

“You’re thinking of the space time rift,” the Doctor stated slowly, pondering the possibility.

“Everything is leading us to that spot.  There must be a reason other than it’s there,” Rose responded.

“You said everything is connected,” Martha agreed.  “Could be the solution is there as well.”

“The Medusa Cascade is perfect for it.” The Doctor paced a few steps staring up at the Time Rotor.  “It can travel to any place in space time from that location and possibly use the rift and the destabilized universal walls to affect parallel universes,” he admitted.

“Pete’s universe runs ahead and that’s why we saw the effects first.” Mickey nodded.

“And that’s why I dream about it,” Amy remarked, a haunted expression erasing any previous bravado.

“And that’s where we end it.”  Rose’s voice hardened in a certainty the Doctor wished he could share.  Then again, his destiny often seemed tied to the Medusa Cascade and he’d crossed paths there too many times to dismiss its importance. 

“Are you all sure you want to do this?  Face the darkness, the inevitably of death and absence of--”

“Oh stop with the dramatics!” Donna groused with an eye roll. “We get it.  It’s evil incarnate and we all could die.  Everyone will die anyway if we don’t stop it.  So get your Time Lord arse over to the controls and let’s do this.”

Rose grinned brightly and although he again wondered how she collected such an assortment of humans, he didn’t doubt her or them.  All of them were people he would have travelled with, learned from and been delighted to show around the universe.  Perhaps if they survived this, he’d get that chance, with his new family in tow.

He joined Jack and Rose at the console, Amy peering at the controls next to Rose while Mickey, Martha and Donna clung to the railing.

“You know, I’m not that bad of a pilot.”  He sniffed as they tightened their grips and muttered they knew better.  He Jack and Rose glanced at each other, an excitement sizzled in the air as they worked the controls.  An old camaraderie among them reestablished as if they had never been separated.  It pulsed through him, filling him with a confidence that perhaps they would all live or at least Rose and Hope would. 

“For Hope,” he murmured and glanced at Rose who covered his hand with hers.  “For Hope,” she agreed.

“Hope,” Jack agreed with a nod and they set course for the Medusa Cascade.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter - thank you everyone for reading, the kudos and all the lovely comments :)

The TARDIS hummed warmly in the background as they hurled through the Vortex toward the next battle.  Despite the positive mood in the TARDIS, goosebumps raised on Rose’s arms and her stomach clenched as if the monster was in the console room with them. 

Rose’s fingers tightened on the controls she manipulated and her thoughts jumbled.  Hope was on board as they went into this war.  What kind of mother endangered her child like this?  This was the part of her life she worried about.  What sort of legacy did he pass to her child?  Yet she couldn’t deny this part of her life which would more than likely be part of Hope’s life, a defender of the multi verse.

She glanced at Jack and the Doctor. The  tension knotting her shoulders eased slightly.  They would face this devourer of star systems together.  After all, together they’d defeated Daleks, another part of this Time War.  She shut her eyes for a moment, focusing on the hum and pulse of the time rotor.  She’d said they weren’t alone, the TARDIS, Idris would always be with them.  She breathed and focused on that tiny tickle in her mind that she always suspected was the TARDIS.  It sang to her and a smile curled the corners of her mouth.

Rose nearly tumbled over as the TARDIS jolted to a sudden stop.  When she opened her eyes, she met the intense and very alien gaze of the Doctor.

“Are you ready?” she asked.

“Don’t,” he commanded and wrapped his fingers around her wrist.

“Don’t what?” A shiver coursed up her spine when the pads of his fingers rested on her pulse point.  Part of her anticipated what he was going to say.

“Let the wolf sleep.”  Silence thickened at his words and Rose continued to meet his steady gaze acknowledging his fear that power would consume her.  After all, the same fear pounded in her ears.  She released a shaky breath trying, to let go of that pulse of power deep in her core, a need to protect all of them.

“I just--”  She bit her lip trying to swallow down how afraid she was of losing him again.

“I know,” the gravelly, emotional tone in his voice soothed the fear and protective instincts boiling up ready to spill over at the slightest twinge of danger.

“Guys,” Jack called out and everyone huddled around the view screen, Amy sandwiched in between the Doctor and Rose.

“What are we looking at?” Mickey asked as they all watched a star chart pulsing with streaming colors across the screen.

“The heart of the Medusa Cascade,” the Doctor answered and put on his glasses.  Rose leaned in closer.

“It’s there,” Amy said softly, her voice cracking as she pointed to an area that appeared void of anything.  “It’s in the place with no stars.”  Rose gripped her shoulder and peered at the image, blinking once and squinting.

“I don’t see it,” Donna said next to Jack. “I mean, it’s just stars and some empty space in between them.”

“We can’t see it, even in what the TARDIS is showing us.  That’s what you said, isn’t it Doctor?” Martha asked.

“The image is accurate beyond what your photo receptors can identify.  You see the basics, something your brain can identify and comprehend,” he drew out.  “To you, it’s a representation of the central quadrant of the Medusa Cascade depicting celestial bodies, interstellar gases and a manifestation of the rift energies.”  He stood back a step.

“But there’s more there and you see it,” Rose insisted and again a chill shook to her core.  There was a spot where the colors didn’t touch, a hole, an absence of light and something about it triggered heart pounding anxiety and an itch to run away far and fast.

She gripped his hand and squeezed hard until her nails bit into his flesh.

“You see it too,” Amy said in a small voice and Rose, hand clamped onto the Doctor, looked down at her.  “I don’t know, Amy.  It’s just a feeling, yeah.  Whether or not we see it, it doesn’t matter.  Whatever is out there, we’re going to sort it.”

“Right,” Jack acknowledged backed up and blew into his hands, rubbing them together as if he too felt that icy fear.  “So we know it’s there and chances are it knows we’re here.  We need to do something before it--”

“Eats us,” Amy inserted in a quivering voice and Donna wrapped her arms around her protectively.

“Oh we won’t get close enough for that,” the Doctor said in an uplifted voice Rose didn’t believe.  She refused to let go of him. If she did that, he might do something stupid like sacrifice himself.  Rose wasn’t sure why that thought popped to the forefront of her head but she suspected the TARDIS helped her get a glimpse into a previously guarded Time Lord brain.  Or maybe she knew him too well.

“So we need to lure it toward the rift and then what?” Mickey asked, pacing around the room eyeing the image.  Rose smiled at the strategic and practical nature of his approach.  And she realized in that moment how much Mickey had grown since she’d last seen him at Canary Wharf; or maybe it was since she said goodbye to him in Pete’s World.  But then she’d changed too.  Time and loss had a way of doing that.

Jack, Martha and Mickey began shouting out different ideas about imploding stars, reversing polarities, super novas and explosions.  The Doctor engaged vibrantly in these discussions shooting down many of the ideas as cataclysmic, universal imploding or scientifically improbable.

Rose and Donna walked Amy over to the jump seat and sat quietly with Amy in between them.  Amy sighed and leaned against Rose.  “Are they always like this?”

“Like what?” Rose asked.

“Pointless bickering over how to trap a monster,” Donna tartly added.

Jack thumped on the monitor.  “If the universal walls are ripped, we just explode the nebula and it gets sucked into the Void and we seal it.  Easy.”

“No not easy!” the Doctor snapped in agitation, jaw clenched and glaring at Jack.

“And what about parallel universes?” Mickey argued.  “I got friends and family over in Pete’s World.  We’re not murdering another universe to keep this one safe.”

“It’s the Void,” Jack argued in a louder voice.”

“Amy’s right,” Donna sighed.  “They’re not solving anything.”

“It likes it,” Amy said quietly.  “The chaos, the darkness, the war.”

“That’s it.” Rose jumped off the jump seat and smiled at her young friend.  “You’re brilliant Amy.”

“It wasn’t just devouring stars.  It was living off the chaos,” Donna repeated. 

“That’s what it wants.”  Rose paced and listened to the bickering until Martha let loose a piercing whistle.

“Enough.  We aren’t going to solve this with--”

“Starting a war,” Rose supplied and all eyes turned on her.  She glanced at Amy and winked.  “Now Amy here just made a brilliant observation that if any of you care to listen might make you take a breather and think for a minute.”

“No offense but she’s a kid,” Jack noted with a touch of sarcasm.

“She’s a smart kid who lived on a rift,” Donna pointed out. 

“According to Amy, you’re giving it what it wants,” Rose insisted. “And while you’re arguing, I’m betting it’s on its way here.  Pull up the monitor.” The Doctor aimed his sonic and much to her stomach clenching horror, she was right.  The area of nothingness appeared to have moved.

“It likes negative energy, like in your war,” Amy said and leaned into Donna.

“Are you saying it was drawn here cause we had a row?” Mickey rested a hand on his weapon as he backed up to the console.

“She’s right.”  The Doctor stared at Amy before turning toward the console leaned on the edge closer to the monitor.  “She figured out what Time Lords missed.”  He shook his head.  “I’ve been blind.”

“We still need to trap it,” Jack reminded him.

“So what are you gonna do? Create a black whole around the black hole monster?” Donna snorted and wrapped an arm around Amy who stared at her with a new light in her eyes.

“That’s, well brilliant,” the Doctor admitted, staring at Donna and tugging at his hair.  “I mean completely mad in a we could all die way.”

Rose walked over and smacked his shoulder.  He winced, eyeing her but there was a twinkle in his eyes that left her hopeful.  Madness, yes perhaps they all were, but him especially when his mind raced with a potential solution to a crisis.  And that giddy, heart pounding feeling raced across Rose’s chest.  It was the adrenalin rush right before a run for your lives. 

“Could it work?” Jack asked, his face uplifting as he stood near them.  The Doctor raced over to the console pounding out formulas.

“Of course it will.” Rose said what they all wanted to hear even though most were side eyeing her. 

She didn’t miss how Martha’s hand clasped Mickey’s.  Her hands tingled at the sight of them.  Yes, she thought, they fit in a weird trans universal love story way and the TARDIS seemed to hum more upbeat at this thought.  Or maybe it was in reaction to the Doctor, glasses off,  hands tangled in his hair and muttering about reversing the neutron flow.

And maybe that was the turning point.  There was a familiar twinge at the back of her head and tingle shooting up her arm she always wondered about.  Perhaps it was time lines snapping into place sort of like that uncanny instinct of how she knew when Hope would cry before she did.  That same odd sense now caused her to look at the Doctor.  She stared as the air shifted in the room and shadows stretched out for him until his skin turned gray and his eyes pits of black.

Was it death?  But Time Lords didn’t die.  They had a trick.  Maybe what she sensed was something worse, a decay or infection taking hold, like a virus multiplying and transforming him into a twisted version of the man she loved, a man who believed in life, turned into death eternal.  Like that thing outside, a creature of destruction.

No.  Stiff and unmoving, a fire flickered within her, a burning determination to protect, one that pulsed with time, to keep him safe…our Doctor.  While the occupants of the TARDIS argued, chatted and focused on a plan, Rose turned toward their enemy.

A strange chill creeped at the edges of her mind.  Voices muffled and her gaze locked onto the TARDIS doors.  Her feet moved before she could even comprehend what she was doing.  An instinct pulled at the center of her chest to keep going forward, seek, discover and confront what lay before them.

In a blink of an eye, she was down the ramp and her hand rested on the door handle.  The wood creaked and cold leeched through to her hand and up her arm freezing her in place.  The door continued to open until she stared into the heart of the Medusa Cascade except there was nothing there.

“No!” A voice shouted, barely heard through the pounding in her ears.  Her breath caught as the cold squeezed her lungs tight, wringing every last bit of air from her, threatening to diminish the fire of time that raged within.  Slashing, knife like pain coursed down her body as she faced death.  She stood acknowledging it but unable to react.  She should scream but her lips pressed tight, refusing to move or give the Nightmare the satisfaction.

You can’t scream in space.  The Doctor told her that once.  She wasn’t in space.  Was she?  She stood in the TARDIS.  Numbness.  It was like something carved away inside of her, pick, pick, pick and she couldn’t fight, couldn’t call for help.  Tears froze as they wet her cheeks, hard and brittle, they dug into her skin.

“You can’t have her,” a deep gravelly voice stretched out across the universe and shattered her catatonic state.  A scream tore out of her chest as warm arms yanked her backward.  “You don’t belong here.  Your time is over.” He hurled the words at the beast that had no form. 

She gasped and rough spasms wracked her chest as she met timeless brown eyes.  “My Rose, always taking on the big fight without me.”  Warm, moist breath followed by soft lips she needed to feel against hers but brushed her forehead instead.  He stared deep into her eyes until time stopped and the room filed with a golden glow. 

“I can’t lose you.  Promise me you won’t--” Her voice choked and her fingers ached from clawing into his shoulders.

“You see too much now, don’t you?”  He pulled her against his chest until her face nestled into his neck.  “How can I give up this?” His voice cracked as he repeated words she’d once spoken so many years ago they seemed ancient. 

He pulled back and even in pain, her vision out of focus, Rose saw the battle in his eyes, the warrior, the powerful time lord and the healer, the Doctor.  Her tongue swelled as she tried to talk but instead, his presence infused her mind and she conveyed her feelings to him with images of them, laughing, snogging, happiness and Hope.

Time snapped around her and she screamed as muscles cramped and every nerve set on fire. 

“What the hell was that?” Jack demanded.

She heard the Doctor speak but couldn’t understand as she fought against the darkness creeping into her vision.  She didn’t hear anything after except for ten words:  “I love you too much to let you go now.”

#

A baby’s giggle – Hope.  Rose blinked against the soft yellow glow of her bedroom.  She tried to lift her hand to rub at her pounding temples but the effort left her shaking and breaking out in a cold sweat.

The lovely smiling face of Martha filled her blurred vision.

“Not too fast now.  You’ve been suffering the after effects of exposure to a star sucking, universal energy absorbing entity that is sort of like the space amoeba of black holes.”

“Space amoeba?”  She smacked her thick tongue which tasted like that time she did shots of tequila with Shareen.

Amy bounced on the bed next to her. “The Doctor sorted it.  It was sort of boring.  I thought there’d at least be an explosion.”  She plopped her head back against the pillow and blew long strands of ginger hair off her forehead. 

Martha methodically took Rose’s pulse and shoved an old fashioned digital thermometer in her mouth.  Donna walked over cradling Hope.

“There now, see sweetheart, Mummy’s all done with her healing nap and up just in time for a snack.”

Rose winced at the wet spot on her t-shirt as that tight swollen feeling of not having pumped breast milk replaced her foggy, achy hangover sensation.  Martha yanked out the thermometer and hummed.  “I think you’re good for breast feeding and don’t seem to have any residual effects from exposure.”

“Spaceman would be here chasing us all out if she wasn’t okay.”  Donna chuckled.  Martha helped Rose to sit up and fluffed pillows behind her.

“Come on Amy, let’s give Rose some mum time.  Martha held out her hand.

Amy heaved a huge sigh.  “Fine.”  She rolled off the bed and walked toward the door pausing once as Rose tugged at her t-shirt in preparation of nursing.

“You don’t have to be afraid you know.  It’s gone.  I can feel it.  We can all sleep now.”  A smile lit Amy’s face and she skipped out of the room.

“What was that about?” Rose asked as Donna helped her get Hope situated.

“She was very worried about you.  We all were, and if you didn’t have a nursing baby right now, I’d be thumping you a good one for a stunt like that.”

Rose winced as Hope latched on and not because she was in any discomfort from her baby. 

“I’m not sure what happened.  It’s all sort of a blur.”

“Good.”  The Doctor walked.  Donna’s smile softened.

“Guess I’ll leave you two to bond and go make sure Captain Hawtness doesn’t land us in some alien space orgy.”  She left and the Doctor crawled onto the bed next to Rose, watching Hope cling to Rose and nursing contentedly.

“Soooo,” Rose drew out.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, his fingers tracing the fine golden hair on Hope’s head.

“Better.  Not quite as fuzzy but tired, like after I was in labor.  Don’t think I’ll be ready to run off on any adventures any time soon.”

He remained silent, watching Hope.  His throat bobbed as he swallowed and worry clenched at her throat.   “Doctor, I don’t know why I…”

“Yes you do and so do I and so does the TARDIS.”  He glared at a golden coral wall before meeting her gaze.  Thankfully she didn’t see any anger or condemnation in his eyes, only resignation.  She took no comfort in that particular observation.

“You did what we do.  Defend the Universe and each other.”

She reached for his hand and relief eased the tension in her shoulders as his fingers slid against her palm.

“That being said, please don’t do that again.”

“I won’t if you won’t,” the words spilled out before she could think and she bit her tongue.

“Yeah, thought you’d say that.”  He sighed and lay back on the bed, his head against the pillows and stared at the ceiling.  His hand remained intertwined with hers.

“I was afraid,” Rose admitted.  “I had a sense you’d leave us, thinking it was the way to keep us safe, to face your past and what happened in the war.  I sensed--”  She paused and shifted and squirming Hope to her shoulder and turned to find him watching her.

“Things are different now.  I’m different and I can’t help it.”

“I know and I’m sorry.  I never wanted this for you.” His voice hitched slightly

Rose sat upright and patted Hope’s back.  “Meaning you didn’t want to be with me?  Didn’t want me to have Hope?  Or is it that I might be able to stay with you and not do the whole wither and die thing.” She failed miserably at keeping the sarcastic bite from her voice. 

“No.” His voice remained oddly calm capturing her attention.  “I’m sorry you sacrificed so much of yourself, Now you have no choice but to be part of time, to know things you may not want to know and feel what I--”  He turned away and rolled off the bed to pace around the room.

“I’m not sorry about any of that,” she insisted, her heart hammering in chest.  Hope whimpered picking up on Rose’s stress.  She cradled her daughter to her chest and inhaled a deep breath to continue.

“I love you with everything I am just as I love Hope and the TARDIS.  We’re all a part of each other you know, the four of us.”  He paused and he stood still his eyes widening slightly.

“Yes, I know we are.  You can’t keep it a secret.  Been living on this TARDIS for over a year since you went on holiday in a parallel dimension.  I might have gained some insight and did a bit of studying since I was planet bound.”

He rushed over and sat on the bed next to her, hand resting on the back of Hope’s head.

“You should hate me.  I’ve stolen your life, your future and family.”

“Told you, I don’t.  And you didn’t steal anything. I love you and we’re a family, us right here.”  She smiled as Hope gurgled and his hair brushed her face as he leaned down to kiss the baby.  She would cherish quiet moments like these and as much as she wanted to cling to this moment, she needed to set him straight on a few things.

“It’s gonna take more than love for us to work.” He lifted his head and met her gaze.  “We have to talk about things sometimes and you have to understand that I’m here and not going away when things get rough.  Not that I’m not a protective mum.” 

A warmth flushed through her as she looked down at Hope and thought about how much she’d protect her daughter.  “Been building a family on Earth for her, and us to help me keep her safe.  That’s part of this deal, you know.”

“The Last of the Time Lord’s offspring will be a target.  It endangers them as well as us,” he reminded in a pointed tone.

“Yeah.” She shrugged.  “They know that.  We’ve talked about it.  Everyone agrees it’s worth the risk to share the burden and the benefits.  When they need help, we’ll be there for them too.  Just like I’m here for you, if you’ll let me.”

He slid down on his side next to her, wrapping his arms around her upper body and tangling his legs with hers until they cradled Hope between them.

“I will.  I mean I’ll try, Rose but centuries of being on my own have left me--”  He scratched the side of his face.

“A stodgy, old bachelor Time Lord used to being on his own.”  He arched a brow.

“Not that old.  I mean I’m a very vibrant nine hundred five.”  He sniffed and adjusted his tie.

“Very vibrant as I recall,” she teased, her voice lowering and she snuggled onto his shoulder as Hope wiggled and flailed out her arms until tiny fingers clasped his rose decorated blue tie.  She giggled as Hope gave it a good tug causing him to squeak in surprise.

“I’d say her motor skills are quite adept,” he gasped with a chuckle, freeing the fabric from her tight grasp.  “Our brilliant daughter needs some proper educational toys and something to stimulate her--”

“Doctor,” Rose said with a sigh.  He stopped and a soft smile lit his face as he leaned in to brush his lips against hers in a gentle kiss which Rose returned.

“So are you all in then?” she asked.  “You know, with me, a baby, the TARDIS, defenders of Earth and wranglers of any big star eating bad things?”

He stared off across the room and his face fell.  “Maybe without some of the bad things.”

“Bad things tend to pop up whether we want them or not.”  Rose caressed his neck, her nails scraped grazing up his neck into his hair and he leaned into her.  He relaxed at the contact and so did she.  An intimacy grew between them cuddled like this even talking about the hard things.

“I sorted the bad thing.  It won’t come back this time.”

“Black hole around the black hole monster?”

“Yes.  Not as exciting as it sounds.  Just sort of imploding a few things and manipulating energy. A bit basic really, for a brilliant Time Lord.”  He winked at her.  

The wink was meant to flirt, to get her to relax and not ask any more hard questions and she wouldn’t, for now.  Later, after he was relaxed, perhaps naked and relaxed, she’d push him further, help him heal from facing the Time War memories.  For now, she was content to cuddle.

Hope  let out a shriek and giggle.  Rose wrinkled her nose and eyed the Doctor who inched away.  “Don’t think so mister.  Daddy duty calls.”

“But--”

“You owe us and besides, nappy duty is nothing compared to what we just faced.”

He groaned and grumbled scooping up their daughter.  “We have got to sort this nappy business.  My offspring simply cannot endure such indignities as a stinky nappy.”  He leaned in and rubbed his nose against Hope’s.  “Isn’t that right, light of my universe.  We’ll design something sonic to absorb offensive smells.”

Domestics it appeared were now back on the menu and Rose couldn’t be happier.  She laid back and fell into a peaceful sleep, happier than she had been in a very long time.

#

The console room echoed with happy voices as the Doctor raced around the console with Rose and Jack assisting.  Hope sat in a secured TARDIS approved baby carrier affixed onto the jump seat.  The Doctor glanced at her and a thrill shot through him every time she smiled and waved her hand at him in recognition; and his brilliant girl definitely recognized her daddy.

Nothing swelled his hearts more than the way her eyes lighted when he cradled her or read her stories or even explained how to repair the trans temporal drive.  Even when Amy rolled her eyes and called him domesticated, he couldn’t help but enjoy a sense of home and a different path opening up in his life, one he never considered or imagined he’d enjoy.

Not, that he hadn’t fathered Amy in Pete’s World. 

He hadn’t seen it then, but he did now with the way Rose looked at him when he and Amy played a game of Vahadak Chess which Amy had taken to like a Vahadadian Master.  He almost lost three times to her, much to his horror, and worry that he’d lost his touch.  But the triumphant look in her eyes, each time she made a clever move helped ease the horrors she had faced so many nights.

He wanted to give Amy back some of her childhood and a normal life.  But nothing could erase how the rift had touched her and what it had stolen.  Amy had been a defining moment in his relationship with Rose and the first time they’d legitimately had a heated discussion about parenting and the right thing to do.  His hearts still ached at the decisions ahead.

The TARDIS landed with a thump interrupting the myriad of thoughts about Amy and the rest of their friends.

“Here we are Earth!  And only two hours since you left!”

“You sure about that time boy?” Donna asked, teasing him as seemed to be her habit and one which he secretly enjoyed. 

Jack tapped a few keys on the console.  “All clear!”

Martha pulled Rose into a hug.  “You sure you’ll be okay?”

“We’ll be fine,” Rose assured and hugged Martha tight as Mickey ambled up to her.  “Micks, you sure about leaving?  You can stay as long as you like.”

“I’m sure.  I had fun in that parallel world and I got to spend time with Gran and get a new start on life, figure out what I wanted.”  He glanced shyly at Martha.

“I sort of offered to help him out and UNIT well, he could independent contract with them.”

“What about me?” Jack complained after kissing Hope goodbye.  The Doctor gritted his teeth at how Hope squealed in delight.  He refused to admit he was a protective father around the flirtatious Captain.

“I’m sure we’ll be seeing everyone around,” he suggested walking over next to Rose and slipped his hand in hers.  She elbowed his side until he winced.  “And thank you for helping us and watching over Rose and Hope.  I owe you.”

“Our pleasure.”  Jack saluted.  “And now I have my own team to get back to.”

“Say hi to Ianto for me,” Rose added. 

“Oh I’ll do more than that!”  Jack grinned as he backed out. 

“Well I’m off too,” Donna announced, digging around in her oversized red handbag.  “Got loads to catch up with at work.  And Sarah Jane will want to hear all the dirt.”

The Doctor groaned.  “No, don’t do that.”

“Tell Sarah Jane, we’ll catch up with her.  Maybe in a week or so, I’ll bring the Doctor by to meet Luke.”  The Doctor arched a brow. 

“Luke?”

“Her son.  You’ll like him.  He’s alien,” Donna said with a wink to Rose.  “Call me if you need anything.”

After they all left, Amy strode forward, hands in her jeans.  “So where are we off to next?”

“Somewhere special,” he promised, a warmth infusing his voice at the opportunity he never thought possible awaiting them.

Amy crossed her arms and faced Rose.  “I don’t like secrets.”

“Sometimes secrets can be good.”  Rose walked her over and they sat next to Hope.  “Like when the Doctor was able to call my Mum before the walls sealed.”  Amy sat next to her, playing with her long plaid shirt. 

“Yeah, I miss Aunt Jackie and Uncle Pete and even Tony.  She took me shopping and we made biscuits and watched telly.  I had my own room overlooking the garden.”  A wistful quality entered her voice firming the Doctor’s resolve.

“She loved having you.”  Rose’s voice trembled and he watched the slight glisten of tears in her eyes. 

His hearts stuttered.  He’d worried about that call.  But in the end it gave Rose closure along with a promise that if he could find any other crack, he’d try for another trans universal call.  No promises though and Rose knew and accepted that.

He refused to admit his own eyes stung with tears saying goodbye to the woman who loved him like a son; or the man who stood up to an unhinged Time Lord and said  _ No _ .  Closure wasn’t something he did as well as Rose.  Maybe one day he’d learn how she managed to convey so much love and hope and understanding in that five minute phone call and could still smile about it days later.

“Here we are,” he said quietly, patting the console and thanking the TARDIS for a soft landing.

“Where are we?” Amy demanded, eyes narrowed on him.

“A place where you can make a choice, the choice no one’s ever given you.”  He walked over to the door.

“What’s out there?”

“Oh that’s the exciting part, isn’t it!” He said in a quiet but excited voice. 

“It’s like eating a box of truffles,” Rose added standing behind Amy and resting her hands on Amy’s shoulders.  “You never know what’s inside until you bite into it.”

“I always get the nasty coconut one.” Amy wrinkled her nose and stuck out her tongue.

“No coconut today.”  The Doctor winked at her and opened the door.

Amy stepped outside into a familiar town square.  “Leeds?”

“Yes, but not your Leeds.  Parallel world,” he rolled off his tongue.

“Things look similar but they’re not,” Rose cautioned.  “Gingerbread houses as the Doctor likes to say.  Except sometimes, gingerbread in a good way.  A fresh start way.”

“You’re leaving me! You promised you wouldn’t!”  She smacked the Doctor in the gut with a balled up fist.  He winced and rubbed at the spot.

“No, no, no, not like that!”  He knelt by her side.  “No Amy, this is about you and what you want.”

“I don’t understand.”  She looked over at Rose.

“From what I hear, most of your life has been about surviving the big bad, dealing with loss, relatives that aren’t always the most understanding, shoved out of the way, called names, bullied and shifted around with no say.  This is your say Amy Pond.”

“I couldn’t bring back your parents or take away the pain you suffered, the nightmares.  But I can give you options, the chance to start fresh, make a new life, a normal one.”

“I like being on the TARDIS with you and Rose and Hope.”  Her bottom lip trembled. “You don’t want me.”

“No!” Rose insisted and tried to pull Amy into a hug but she pulled away and turned the other direction wiping at her eyes.

“No,” Rose repeated.  “We want you on the TARDIS too but we also want you to have the life you were denied.  And that’s why we’re here.”

“You see. there’s this family, the Ponds,” the Doctor explained with hesitation until Amy’s shoulders relaxed.  “They couldn’t have children even though they always wanted them.”  Amy turned, a hard gaze drilling into him.

“They’ve been trying to adopt but something always gets in the way,” he continued.  “Until now.  It appears UNIT has asked them to take on a very special young lady who they deem important to the safety of Earth.”  A slight smile twitched at Amy’s lips and hope flared in his chest.

“They asked the Ponds if they’d take on this bright, independent ginger who would like to have a normal home and a chance to make friends,” Rose explained.

“Of course,” the Doctor drew out.  “Sometimes, she might be needed to help with special projects and take a bit of a holiday, but only if she wants,” he quickly tacked on.  Before he could say another word, Amy launched herself at him squeezing the breath from his body until he needed his respiratory bypass.

She pulled back, a softer but no less demanding expression, glinting in her eyes.  “They aren’t really my parents.”

“No, They’re not,” he agreed.  “But they’d really love to try and be parents to you, meaning, you’d live with them, according to their rules, go to school, do homework, play, make friends and all those things human children do.”

“But you could still visit with us and take trips when you’re not in school,” Rose added.

“What do you think?” the Doctor asked, squeezing her shoulders.  “You’re choice.”

She looked across the park and saw a familiar couple, faces she lost years ago.  The Doctor stood and Rose gripped his hands as his hearts hammered in his chest.  Time seemed to slow and the air sizzled with potential as Amy made her choice.

“Want to meet them?” Rose asked.  The words seemed to have a life of their own swirling in all the potential futures, the could bes, the maybes, all of which centered on Amy.  She nodded and he breathed, a tightness in his chest relaxing.

He watched as Amy met the Ponds, the new Ponds, he should say.  He didn’t know what her biologic family was like but he liked Augustus and Tabetha.  They had easy smiles, gentle ways, yet weren’t afraid to tease Amy in a good way.  After a few stilted minutes, she opened up and found she shared a love of fried foods and camping with Augustus and reading adventure stories with Tabetha.

Part of him ached as he felt her pull away but then he supposed that was part of raising children.  After all, a parent’s job was to teach and encourage children to grow and seek their own life. 

He handed her a mobile.  “Universal roaming, preprogrammed with the TARDIS number.”  He leaned closer to her.  “And don’t give it to Uncle Jack – just us.”  He winked at her and Amy rolled her eyes.

“Stop it,” Rose chastised with a smile just as her mobile beeped with her new baby app letting her know Hope was awake and needing attention.  “She knelt down eye level with Amy.  “Have fun.  Try not to sock anyone even if they get annoying.  I know it can be hard.  I didn’t do so well at that part when I was your age.”  At tongue touched grin lighted her face and the Doctor couldn’t help but snicker.  Rose narrowed her eyes at him and he turned away.

“Don’t be afraid to make friends.  I know it’s hard after losing so much but sometimes you have to risk it.  I did.  Jumped aboard this nutter’s ship and look where it got me.”

“Pregnant and taking care of a crazy alien.”  Amy leaned into Rose giggling. 

The Doctor muttered about  _ aren’t children lovely _ and stepped away but not so far he didn’t hear Rose offer more support, promises Amy could call if she had any nightmares and how they’d be back to visit after she settled in and oh yes, during an alien invasion or attack, get to safety before calling them.

Always has her priorities straight, his Rose.

He couldn’t walk away.  Even with Rose’s mobile buzzing away that his daughter needed him.  He couldn’t leave the daughter he never realized until that moment, he’d adopted.  Amy seemed to sense it was up to her and grabbed her new mother’s hand and walked away down the side walk as tears trailed down Rose’s cheeks and she waved goodbye.  Heat washed over the Doctor and his throat tightened until he could barely swallow.

“Hope.”  Rose knew what to say to distract him. 

Yes, his Hope,  his miracle, she needed him too.  Later, in the TARDIS, he thought it would be easy to shrug off any pesky emotions about loss or saying goodbye.  Even with Rose playing with Hope as they dematerialized, something nagged at him.  Quiet.  He missed their family, the noise, the energy, the laughter and even the bickering and flirting. 

Then Hope squealed and laughed and so did Rose.  The TARDIS hummed in a joyful, way, almost with a beat to it.  Music.  Life.  Family.  In the vortex he punched in a special program and suddenly Cyndi Lauper’s voice rang out followed by the upbeat pulse of music:  _ Girls Want To Have Fun _ .  Lights pulsed in rhythm to the song.  The Doctor shimmied his hips and danced over to his favorite girls.

Rose picked up Hope and held her between them. In that moment, the Doctor could conceive of few things in the Universe more brilliant than bopping around the console with his family while the TARDIS sang to them. 

His trainers barely touched the grating as they spun and laughed.  He released his burdens to be just the Doctor, Rose and Hope on the TARDIS, a family. 

“I love you,” Rose said as they paused, giggling. 

Without hesitation he repeated the words that meant so much to him.  “Rose Tyler, I love you too.”

The Doctor, Rose and Hope on the TARDIS, as it should be and always would be, if he had any say it, which he and his slightly Bad Wolf altered companion would if anyone ever dared ask or even think of breaking up their family.

 


End file.
